


A Reluctant Adventure and Other Escapades

by SucculentHyena



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Anal Sex, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Casual Sex, Double Penetration, Dungeons & Dragons References, Gay Bucky Barnes, Horny idiots, Lesbian Natasha Romanov, Mermaid Sex, Multi, Ooze Sex, Open Relationships, Oral Sex, Orgy, Pansexual Clint Barton, Porn With Plot, Sex, Succubus Sex, Vaginal Sex, Vine Monster Sex, so much plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:33:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 65,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22748644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SucculentHyena/pseuds/SucculentHyena
Summary: Clint keeps fucking his wayintoproblems, Bucky can’t seem to fuck his wayoutof problems, Steve can’t catch a fucking break, and Natasha isn’t any fucking help. Join these horny idiots as they journey through a land of fantasy and adventure on a quest to save the world or something.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 57
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a light-hearted fantasy adventure with loads of sex sprinkled throughout. It's inspired by the webcomic [I Roved Out in Search of Truth and Love](https://irovedout.com/), which I highly recommend if you're looking for a NSFW fantasy comic heavily featuring queer women.
> 
> This story takes place in a fantasy world where lots of sex happens, STD and unwanted pregnancies aren't a thing, sex workers are a respected profession, and sexual assault doesn't happen. We're all here for a good time.
> 
> However, assholes and cultists DO exist, and they WILL bother our main characters.

_A shadow loomed under a darkened sky, its shape visible not by sight but by sense of dread. Above were no stars, for they were long ago slain in this realm, and below was no earth, only corpses, the remains of soldiers killed long before time._

_The shadow writhed and quivered in a hatred unfathomable. Its surface rippled in shards, imperceptible to the eye but clear to the heart with how they struck fear, how they yearned to end that which was and is and will be, and all that lived in the-_

“Fuck!” Clint yelled, shooting off down Bucky’s throat. Bucky swallowed around him, pulling a shiver from Clint.

As he came down from is orgasm, Bucky pulled away, and Clint cursed again as the frigid air hit his cock. He hastily tucked himself back in before the spit froze in the sub-zero air, glaring down at his friend.

“You’re an ass” he muttered through his gasps, watching his breath fog.

“You weren’t saying that a minute ago” Bucky smirked. He stood and wiped snow off his knees, casting an offhanded glance around them, but there wasn’t much to see. As snow-covered forests went, this one was nothing special.

While Clint worked to catch his breath, he blinked away the remaining black from his sight. “Hey, you ever see weird shit when you come?” he asked.

Bucky seemed to think about it, rolling it over in his mind. “Sometimes I see stars; one time I drank some bad mushroom wine and saw my mom; didn’t wanna think too hard on that”

Clint scrunched his face. “Your mom?”

Bucky shrugged, “Like I said; didn’t think too hard on it”

Clint rubbed a hand over his face, trying to get some warmth in his cheeks and not look at his friend for a second, because _yeesh_.

“Ugh, lets just get out of this weather before I freeze my nuts off”

Bucky bumped they’re shoulders together, “I can keep ‘em warm if you like” he said cheekily.

“Oh fuck off” Clint grouched, eyeing Bucky’s getup. Clint was layered with pelts and furs over most of his body- which he’d had to hunt and skin last-minute from the sudden cold front- while Bucky stood there in pants and a _short-sleeved shirt_. Bastard had even removed his leather armor because it was _too warm_.

“How aren’t you cold?”

“Winter elf” he answered with a grin.

“Don’t give me that. I’m part winter elf too, asshole” and before Bucky could retort, he added “And don’t start on your purebred shit, I’ve seen you complain when the shower’s too cold”

Bucky huffed, but he acquiesced. “It’s a magical snow”

Clint paused, narrowing his eyes. “How can you tell?”

“Because I’m not cold, genius” Bucky said with a smirk.

Clint grunted, still eyeing him. He couldn’t argue that point, but still. Fucking anti-mage.

“Let’s just get somewhere warm, I saw smoke a few miles out and Lucky says its a village” he grouched.

* * *

They eventually came to the village Clint had spotted, and to his great relief, they had an inn. It was small and expensive- especially when the stingy owner saw how desperate Clint was for a warm bed- but between the two of them they had more coin than they knew what to do with.

“Oh _gawd_ ” Clint moaned obscenely, lavishing in the softness of the cheap but fluffy blankets. “I’ve missed beds. _Gods_ , how I’ve missed beds” He rolled himself into a cocoon, enjoying the slow building of warmth as he lost the last of the outside chill from his limbs, most of which had left while he’d showered. “Three fucking weeks in the forest with rocks and shit up my ass, I’m not leaving this bed for a _week_ ”

“You’re a disgrace to rangers everywhere” Bucky laughed, stoking the fire like a good friend ought to.

“I’ll have you know that I’m sought after by many. There’s a fucking _waitlist_ for my services” Clint said from under the blanket.

“And yet you never accept any jobs”

“Because they’re all outside in the backend of _nowhere_ , for some shitty quest into a dungeon that’s been looted ten times over. _Or_ , some fucking baron needs, like, an owlbear or some shit slain. Like I’m a fucking _exterminator_ ” he groused.

“It’s good coin though”

“You’re one to talk Mr. Elite Assassin. When’s the last time _you_ did business?”

“That’s different. I’m _retired_ ” Bucky defended, but he didn’t seem particularly invested in the argument.

Clint grunted. “Whatever” he muttered, and rolled more tightly in his cocoon.

He felt a weight crawl over him, “You’re just grumpy because we had to walk in freezing snow for a day” Bucky said from above him as he draped his body over Clint’s.

“You mean _I_ had to walk in freezing snow for a day; _you_ apparently had a lovely summer stroll” he grumbled.

Clint felt Bucky’s chuckle through the layer of blankets before a nose nuzzled along the top of his head. “How ‘bout I ride your cock and we call it fair”

Clint curled more tightly on himself. “Ride your own cock” he groused, and felt another chuckle from Bucky. He knew he was being stubborn, but goddammit, he’d just spent way too long in the wilderness on top of an entire day in arctic temperatures because some caster probably fucked up a spell. He just wanted to enjoy a bed that wasn’t made of grass and dirt.

“Alright, alright. What can I do to help, you’ve been a real good sport on this adventure”

“ _Adventure_ he calls it” Clint griped. He poked his head out from the blankets and glared. “That was a fetch quest _at best._ For a piece of fucking _paper_ ”

“Yeah, but I _really_ needed that piece of fucking paper” Bucky said huskily, nibbling at Clint’s ear, to which Clint only grunted. _This fucking guy,_ he thought. A piece of paper- not a _book_ , but a single piece of _paper_ \- in the middle of some enchanted woods, in a dungeon that was barely anything more than a cave. Three weeks of Clint’s life for a piece of paper with glyphs and shit on it.

And yeah, okay, a fuckload of gold too, but Clint wasn’t hurting for cash. He got by well enough, and he’d never been one for hoarding the stuff. He lived commission-to-commission, and he loved it- loved finding his pockets empty and filling them by the end of the day, only to do it again the next. And if he was ever hard-pressed, he just hunted for supper and slept under the stars. He did actually enjoy getting out to nature.

Just not for three weeks straight.

“You know what you can do? You can give me a massage for making me haul my ass through miles of forest and spiders” he said, then under his breath added, “And also ride my cock”

He chose to ignore Bucky’s laugh.

* * *

Twenty minutes later he was moaning as Bucky dug his thumb into a particularly stiff knot of muscles in his shoulder.

He was lying naked on his stomach, straddled by maybe not the worst friend in the world, and he was definitely in much better spirits. Bucky was right, he _had_ been grouchy because of the cold. Clint was a summer child, what could he say?

Bucky’s hands worked to undo the tension in his back, and bit by bit he relaxed into a boneless heap. Bucky worked from the top down, and by the time he got to Clint’s lower back, he was a moaning mess. He barely noticed when Bucky shifted back and started running his hands appreciatively over his ass, until he felt the scrape of teeth as Bucky gently bit one of his cheeks.

Clint hummed, snuggling his face into the pillow, because _yeah_ , that was _nice_.

“You know,” Bucky said, giving Clint’s ass a squeeze, “I said I’d ride you, but _fuck_ , think I could eat you out for a bit?”

“Yeah man, go for it” Clint said, smiling loosely. His eyes had gone half-lidded from the massage alone, and he was down for anything.

Bucky practically purred, taking a handful of Clint’s cheeks in each hand and spreading him, diving in with all the enthusiasm of a predator on the hunt. Clint let out breath, easing further into the bed as Bucky licked him slow and languid.

He kept up the easy ministration, changing the pattern every few minutes and running his hands up and down his back. Clint was grinding into the mattress at a lazy pace, enjoying the pleasure that coiled up his spine, humming when Bucky pushed his face in deeper.

He’d needed this after their long days of hiking. A good bed to unwind in, a partner to unwind with, and he was feeling right as rain.

He whined when he felt Bucky’s tongue push in deeper, and he gripped the pillow tightly as he ground his cock harder into the blankets. “Hey Bucky, think- _fuck_ , think its time you got ‘round to the other part of your offer?” he asked, panting now. This was good, but getting ridden was even better.

“Hmm, I guess” Bucky said wistfully, giving Clint’s ass one more parting lick and a last bite to the other cheek before sitting up.

Clint turned over and saw Bucky was just as hard as him, no surprise. He had ditched his clothes, but he wore a cloth brace on his left shoulder, with a single sling that curved over his peck and around his ribs and back. The black of the brace made his skin look even paler, but the dancing firelight bathed him in an orange glow.

Clint had spotted the brace under Bucky’s clothes when they’d stopped to bathe in streams, and he never took it off once during their travels, even though clearly nothing had seemed wrong with his shoulder. Clint didn’t bring it up though; he figured if the man wanted it off, he’d take it off.

He leaned up on his elbows to meet Bucky as he crawled forward, and then they were kissing, slow and wet, their tongues sliding against each other. Clint took Bucky’s cock in hand and jerked him slowly, getting an appreciative hum into their kiss for his efforts.

Bucky pulled away first to grab the lube that had been placed by the bed, and started to work on opening himself up. Clint busied himself with bunching the pillows behind him so he could lay up and get a better view, then leaned back with one hand behind his head for support, the other slowly rubbing at his own cock. He was enjoying the show as Bucky worked himself, head tilted back with a small smile on his face, eyes almost closed.

“Shit, you look good like that” Clint murmured, watching Bucky’s hips move back and forth on his own fingers.

“I always look good” he said between breaths, not pausing his actions. Clint huffed through a smile, amused with Bucky’s confidence.

Clint hadn’t met many winter elves, but the ones he had all possessed a solid helping of self-confidence. Bucky had called it an in-bred feature of his race, and then laughed at his own pun.

Clint didn’t necessarily think it was a bad trait. Bucky was gorgeous, built lean and muscled with the trademark overly-pasty skin and long, pointed ears of the winter elves. His long and dark hair was luscious, and Clint wanted to run his hands through it, but he settled for watching the strands fall across his shoulders and reflect the firelight. In Clint’s opinion, everyone was beautiful- but he especially loved it when they owned their look.

“Fuck- fuck, okay, I’m good” Bucky said breathily, shifting position to align himself with Clint. He sank down slowly, and Clint had to grip is the bed sheets to keep still, letting out one long moan as he slid into warm and tight heat.

Bucky had closed his eyes and titled his head back, rocking back and forth ever so slightly as he sunk down, right until he was fully seated. He sat still, breathing hard and adjusting.

“Fuck, next time we take lube with us to the forest, I can’t go three weeks with nothing up my ass” Bucky lamented.

“Should’ve said something, I could’ve found some silcia sap” Clint grunted, licking his lips as he felt Bucky tighten around him.

Aroused as he was, Bucky leveled him with a pointed look, “I’m not putting _tree sap_ in my _ass_ , _or_ on my dick” he said.

Clint wanted to protest that silcia sap was actually from a root, and had a lot more benefits than acting as lube, but he lost his thought when Bucky shifted his hips in a circle and squeezed around Clint’s cock, causing pleasure to pool in his stomach.

“Enough talk, I promised you a treat for helping me with this errand,” he purred, shifting his hips again and eliciting a gasp from Clint, “so let me take care of you”

Clint nodded, knowing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and let himself sink into the bed as Bucky rode him leisurely, building Clint’s orgasm in slow waves. His eyes had gone half-lidded again while Bucky had closed his altogether, basking in the pleasure.

They were like that for what felt like hours- but more likely minutes- until Bucky suddenly clenched down and picked up speed. Clint felt come spurt on his stomach and chest, and he looked up to find Bucky’s face contorted in pleasure, riding his orgasm _hard_. It went on for another second before Bucky sagged down and chuckled breathlessly, running a hand though his hair. He took a moment to catch his breath. Then looked up at Clint and grinned sheepishly, “Like I said; been a while”

“It was three weeks” he said incredulously. It wasn’t _that_ long.

“I got an appetite”

“I sucked you off like twice a day!”

Bucky shrugged, and Clint slumped back into the bed. _This guy_ , he thought.

“Think you can last another twenty minutes? I’m gonna go for two more”

Clint’s head shot up and stared at Bucky, because _seriously?_

Bucky was looking at him with a cocky smile and complete confidence in what he’d said. Clint let his head fall back and sighed. _This guy._ Insatiable was what he was- though he’d been a little excessive lately.

“Yeah, I can hold off for another twenty” he muttered, bracing himself for a ride.

“Atta’ boy” Bucky grinned.

* * *

The morning sun shone through the thin blinds, filling the room with a gorgeous light.

Clint groaned, fisting himself under the covers in quick jerks. Bucky was spooned behind him, fucking into his thighs with fast pumps of his hips. He felt Bucky’s breath puff against his ear, his movements shifting the bed underneath with each thrust.

Bucky reach under the covers and took Clint’s balls in hand, palming them loosely, and the combined sensations pushed him over the edge.

“ _Nng_ , _fuck_ ” he gasped, shooting off onto himself and the blanket.

“So good, that’s it, I’ve got you” Bucky murmured into his neck, keeping his hard pace until he was coming too, pushing with a final thrust as he came between Clint’s thighs.

They lay in bed panting, until Clint shivered and Bucky pulled the blanket up over their shoulders. He hugged Clint close to his chest and licked a stripe up his neck, then nuzzled into Clint’s hair with a deep inhale.

“Well good morning to you too” Clint murmured, and he felt Bucky smile into his hair.

“It is, isn’t it” Bucky commented in satisfaction.

_BANG-BANG-BANG!_

“Checkout’s in ten minutes!” the innkeeper yelled from behind the door, the harsh knocks grating on Clint’s ears.

“You’d think after we paid triple the going price for a room, he’d show some leniency” Bucky said casually.

“You’d thing after seeing a grizzled ranger and assassin come into the inn he’d show some self-preservation” Clint grumbled.

“Grizzled, huh? Didn’t think I’d be going grey for another millennia” Bucky said with a grin.

“What? No, _grizzled_ , like experienced”

“Grizzled means to have grey hair, or streaks of grey”

“It _does not_ ” Clint retorted.

“It does,” Bucky laid a wet kiss on his shoulder, “but ignore me, I’m being pedantic”

“Oh, I can do that?” Clint said sarcastically, getting a laugh from his bedmate.

Bucky pulled away and got up, stretching on his toes. “We ought’a head out anyway, daylight’s burning an’ we gotta get back to Doggate before next week” he said, the last of his words turning into a yawn.

“What’s next week?”

Bucky looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’ve got your meeting with Coulson”

“Aw, fuck Coulson. He’s just gonna send me on another job”

“Yeah, because he’s the Ranger Master- that’s his job. And yours is to be the ranger he _sends_ on jobs” he said slowly.

“Pff” was all Clint said to that, but he did get up to take a shower. Bucky didn’t care what Clint did with his job, but Clint wasn’t going to pry for the real reason he wanted to get back so fast- just like Clint hadn’t asked what was so important about that fucking piece of paper.

They stayed out of each others business, and it worked for their friendship. They’d been traveling companions for a few years, and friends with benefits just as long. Oftentimes work or life separated them, but they usually met back up at Doggate for a few days, where Clint’s ranger’s station was located and Bucky’s favourite brothel stood. This three-week trip had been the longest they’d ever spent together in one go.

When Bucky had come to him out of the blue after three months away asking for help on a quest, Clint had agreed without question. Anything for a friend- and also any excuse to get away from his work.

As the warm water ran down skin, he mulled over his job. It wasn’t that he didn’t _like_ being a ranger, but if he got sent on one more quest into a fucking _dungeon_ , he’d pull his hair out. He’d gone with Bucky as a favour, and the dungeon hadn’t been _too_ bad, giant spiders aside- but he was sick of them.

He was arguably the best ranger on the continent- he’d survived twenty years in the Feywild for fuck’s sake!- was it too much to ask not to spend his time in a dusty stone hallway riddled with traps and vermin?

He heard the bathroom door open, and a moment later Bucky’s head peeked from behind the curtain. “Mind some company?” he asked. Clint tilted his head in invitation, still silently ruminating on his work and the coming meeting he’d have to face.

Bucky’s body was suddenly pressed to his back, and his hands played over his stomach, traveling down to tease his soft cock.

“What say we get a little dirty before we get clean” he said into Clint’s ear.

“We’re gonna miss our checkout time” he noted idly, his cock already twitching at the prospect.

“Do you care?”

“Not especially, but you wanted to head out soon”

Bucky shrugged behind him, not denying it. He nuzzled Clint’s ear, “It can wait another half-hour, but yeah, not much later than that”

“So how ‘bout you clean me and I’ll clean you?” Clint suggested, turning around and falling to his knees in one move. He’d felt Bucky’s hardness pressing into him as soon as he’d stepped close, and he licked his lips at the sight of it. A quick glance up confirmed Bucky was onboard with the plan- and that he’d worn the brace into the shower as well- and Clint had no problem taking him down in one swallow. He didn’t tease or stretch the pleasure- Bucky needed them back as soon as possible, so Clint went for quick and dirty.

He took him all the way into his throat in one swallow. Bucky moaned encouragements, and Clint sucked lightly. He reached up and took Bucky’s hands, guiding them into his hair and pushing and pulling them with his head movements to emphasize the message, which Bucky quickly got.

Bucky took his head more firmly in his hands and started fucking into Clint’s mouth, taking control in earnest. Clint leaned back on his knees and let himself get lost in the moment, of the quick glide of Bucky’s cock over his tongue, pressing at the back of his throat, stretching his lips. He closed his eyes and focused his breathing, inhaling quickly when Bucky pulled out and holding as he pushed back in.

Clint felt his eyes roll up behind his eyelids, lost in the ease of losing control, and he could’ve stayed like that for hours- so it was good when Bucky pulled out and came across his face. The unexpectedness of it tore Clint away from the drop he’d been floating towards, and had spared him choking on Bucky’s come.

He looked up and enjoyed the wrecked look on Bucky’s face; the faint smile, the blissed-out eyes. Bucky was panting lightly and petting Clint’s hair, letting the water wash away the sweat and stickiness of their activities.

When he’d come back to himself, he hauled Clint up to his feet and switched their positions, taking up Clint’s spot and kneeling. By now Clint had gotten hard, and like him, Bucky took him down in one swallow.

Bucky didn’t lose himself like Clint though, and he put in all the effort, holding Clint still as he worked his cock, tonguing at the head, taking him deep, pulling off slowly with a deep suck, pumping with his hand while he sucked at Clint’s balls.

It was so many sensations building up into a crescendo, and as he got close Bucky took him deep and held him there, swallowing and working his throat around Clint’s cock the way he knew Clint liked.

He came with a breathy moan and shot down Bucky’s throat, who swallowed like a champ. Bucky held Clint’s hips to steady him as he swayed, because _wow_ , Bucky was really good at that.

Bucky stood and pulled the both of them under the spray, and together they washed at a relaxed but steady pace. Clint squeeze Bucky’s one peck, the other covered by the sling, and enjoyed the feel of muscle underneath. In turn, Bucky took great joy running his hands over Clint’s biceps, which were impressively muscular if Clint did say so.

Beyond the sound of water was a pounding at the door and indistinct yelling. Clint grinned. “Think we’ve overstayed?”

“Oh definitely” Bucky smiled, and continued to wash at the same speed he had before. Neither of them rushed, enjoying the company and the warmth of the shower after spending so long in the wilds.

“Think he’ll bust in if we stay long enough?” Clint mused.

“If he does, he’s gonna be leaving pretty quick” Bucky said, and suddenly there was a dagger in his hand.

“Fuck!” Clint exclaimed, nearly jumping from the unexpected weapon. “Don’t do that while I’m naked!” Clint complained.

Bucky smirked and twirled the dagger, and just as fast it disappeared. “You say magic doesn’t work for you, and then you go and do shit like that” Clint grumbled.

“Arcanus magic doesn’t-” Bucky started, but Clint cut him off.

“Yeah yeah, special magic loophole” he said, waving Bucky off. He didn’t have time or patience for a niche magic lesson, it went over his head anyway.

Bucky huffed in amusement at Clint’s dismissal, and he dropped the topic in favour of rinsing off.

“Wanna go halfsies on a horse? I can sell it when we get back, split the difference” Clint suggested as he shut off the shower. He stepped out and started to towel off, Bucky following suite.

“Just one? If you wanna spoon up against me, you can just ask” he joked.

“Okay, first: _I’m_ steering the horse, and second: this town’s too small to spare two horses. We’ll be lucky to get one, honestly”

“Do you think they even _have_ a horse? All I saw were sheep on the way in”

“They’ve got about six horses, Lucky says one’s real sick so we can bet on them wanting to get rid of it” Clint said offhandedly.

Bucky scoffed, “I’m not riding something diseased”

“Then you can walk next to it, but I’m tired and I’m not walking all the way to Doggate”

Bucky clearly didn’t like the prospect, but Clint didn’t care. He was _tired_ , dammit. He had too much gold than he knew what to do with, and figured it was better to lighten the load than haul it. So yes, he’d treat himself to a horse.

They packed in short order and checked out, unbothered by the innkeeper’s bitter scowl. Despite the hostility, Clint tipped an extra two coins, because they’d made a _mess_ of the bedspread and this asshole was gonna have to clean it.

“Oh hey, snow’s gone” Clint commented when he stepped outside, admiring the warmth of the sun and the sight of grass once again.

“Magic” Bucky said as explanation, and Clint rolled his eyes.

A quick trip to a homestead and a hefty exchange of gold later, they were off on their very sickly horse, with Clint happily clucking her along and Bucky unhappily following at a distanced.

* * *

They arrived back in Doggate just shy of the end of the week, a little later than planned. Bucky complained it was because Clint had them detour to a purity pool for the horse to drink from, though Bucky hadn’t been so upset when said horse was suddenly healthy and smelling pretty fresh. And Clint was _definitely_ not complaining when Bucky started riding with him and hugged him tight, outright groping him throughout the journey.

It was actually Bucky who’d made them late, in Clint’s opinion. He’d start jacking Clint off from behind while they rode, but it was poor form to come on your horse, so Clint would pull them aside to finish under a tree or in a clearing, which lead to some pretty active sex. Bucky had always been a touch more horny than Clint was used to, but this was pushing it to a new level.

He’d assumed it had been to make up for lost time after three months apart, but when it didn’t taper down two-weeks into their quest, he’d started to wonder. And now that they had lube on them and weren’t just sucking each other off, it was getting more noticeable.

“The fuck’s gotten into you? Your husband fuckin’ someone out there?” he’d asked when Bucky had started groping him _right after_ they’d stopped to fuck. Clint was nowhere near getting it up again, and he wasn’t going to risk a sore ass when they had another two days of horse-riding ahead of them.

Bucky had just shrugged and played it off as an elf heat, making Clint outright stop the horse so he could twist around and smack Bucky in the head. Humans might fall for that, but Clint knew enough that elf heat wasn’t a _thing_. Clint wasn’t having it.

Clint recognized it for the deflection it was though, and he shrugged internally, dropping the topic easily enough.

Bucky didn’t instigate anything for the rest of that day- but still, Clint had to wonder. _Was_ his husband having sex? Usually Bucky told him if that was the case.

It didn’t matter much though. He didn’t bring it up again for the rest of their travels, and he didn’t fail to noticed Bucky put an effort to lessen his advances.

Back at Doggate, they went their separate ways. He assumed Bucky had some business with that fucking piece of paper, and Clint begrudgingly accepted that he had to check in at the ranger station for his meeting.


	2. Chapter 2

“Come _on_ ” Clint whined, slumping forward on Coulson’s desk.

“You’re going on this quest”

“ _Noooooo_ ”

“Yes”

“But it’s another _dungeon!_ There’s no wilderness in a dungeon, I’ll be useless!”

“There’s wilderness on the way _to_ the dungeon, and that’s what you’re being hired to navigate”

“But then I have to go _inside_ the dungeon with them”

“That’s _your_ problem” Coulson said without sympathy.

“Why’s it gotta be me though? Just send someone else- it’s not even a hard terrain, it’s a _prairie_. Anyone can navigate a prairie” Clint tried to argue.

“I’ve given you slack to pick and choose your jobs because you’re my best ranger, but you haven’t taken a commission for _five months_ ” Coulson emphasized. “If you don’t take something soon, your guild membership will be revoked”

Clint thumped his head on the table. “Can’t you give me something that’s not a dungeon?” he pleaded, looking up with his best puppy-eyes.

“You can clear out the giant rat nest in the Joyfield Timberlands” Coulson said.

“An _extermination gig?_ Come on man, work with me here!” Clint pleaded.

“What do you want me to do, Barton? All the commissions we have are for dungeoneering or clearing out beasts”

“There’s no rescues? A mage looking for some rare plant? Fuck, I’ll even take aimless exploration” Clint said.

Coulson frowned, “There’s only been demand for dungeons and clear-outs, these are your options” He pulled a huge pile of papers in front of him. “I can find you a different dungeon commission if the prairie isn’t to your taste” he offered, thumbing through the pages.

“Gods, just give me the rats, I can’t take another dungeon” Clint muttered unhappily. Coulson handed him the commission and Clint snatched it irritably. He skimmed the sheet, and _yep_ , just a nest of giant rats that needed killing. _Ugh._

Clint looked up from the details and eyed Coulson, thinking.

“If I sucked you off, would you consider extending my membership allowance for missed work?” Clint bargained hopefully.

“No” Coulson answered crisply. “You already get preferential treatment for your skills merit, don’t push it”

Clint slouched down into his chair and sighed loudly, unhappy with the situation. A fucking _extermination_. He was turning into a joke.

Coulson pushed the huge stack of commissions to the side and pulled out a ledger. “If there’s nothing else, I need to reorganize the schedule blocks; the Broali branch just got dissolved and we’re getting an influx of new members”

Clint’s eyes traveled to the ledger, and how Coulson’s face tightened as he read what was there. His gaze swept over to the huge stack of commissions that had yet to be claimed, and the even bigger pile of paperwork that needed to be filled for the day-to-day upkeep. As Ranger Masters went, Coulson was top notch, and he was honestly very generous with his leniency for Clint. But the guy never got any free time.

Clint sighed again, but not for himself.

“Want me to suck you off anyway?”

“I don’t take bribes; deal with the rats or lose your membership” he said without looking up.

“Nah man, not like that. I can see that you’re stressed is all. I’m offering” Clint said honestly.

Coulson looked up from over the ledger, “I’m not granting any favours for sex”

“And I’m not _asking_ for any favours”

Coulson seemed to study him for a moment, and his eyes dropped to Clint’s mouth before looking away quickly. “I can’t return the gesture, you know that, right?”

“I’m offering a blow job with no strings or expectations, just take the offer” Clint said. “Or not, no pressure” he added.

Coulson sighed.

Which was how Clint ended up jerking himself under Coulson’s desk while he happily swallowed his boss’ dick.

* * *

Bucky sucked on his teeth, staring up at the _Reticen_ _tia_ _Athenaeum_ , which was just a library that though it was fancy- and that was a laugh. It didn’t even have a _consortium anundus_ , something even a backwoods winter elf library would have, but that was beside the point.

He was hesitating at the entrance in worry, which wasn’t usually like him- but, well, this wasn’t a problem he usually had. He’d scoured every library he could for answers, and when none held any facts that could help him, he’d turned to fiction. He now knew every fairytale and myth from here to Agrieba, but none had hinted at an answer.

The last item on his checklist was held here, and if it didn’t give him something to work with, then he was fucked. He’d have to start seeking council from learned mages, maybe even witches, and that never went well for him. It might not even be possible, given his reputation.

_Get it together._ He let out a breath and pulled out the rolled paper he and Clint had acquired, the payment for his desired knowledge, and with another moment of hesitance, entered.

The place held the smell of musty books and ink. The muted lighting was probably meant to create a calm atmosphere, but to Bucky it just felt overbearing. He found the librarian’s desk at the front and waited for the smarmy prick who’d turned him away last time.

“ _I’m afraid that tome is only available for prized contributors” he sneered. “You’ll have to come back with something of intellectual value”_

He grit his teeth at the memory of the sleazeball librarian, and he had half a mind to kill him when he was done here. Normally he would’ve broken into their vault and taken the book for himself, except their vault was _magically permeable_. It was a solid cube of steel that shifted density with a password, making the walls easily walked though.

Unless you were an anti-mage.

Even if he’d been invited in, all he would’ve gotten was a face full of steel. There were no openings for him to exploit, and though a caster could’ve broken in with the right spell, Bucky obviously couldn’t get any to help them.

So he’d looked up the nearest rare parchment, and thanked whatever fate had led him to be friends with the best damn tracker in the land to get him there. If the librarian didn’t accept this as payment, he’d start cutting off fingers; screw trying to be good.

“Uh, can I help you?” a man came out from the back, having noticed Bucky standing at the desk.

“I’m looking for the librarian” he said, letting his eyes run over the smaller man appraisingly. _Hmm_ , not bad, maybe he could talk him into a quickie in the back-

Bucky shook the thought out of his head. He needed to get better control of that. It was getting so bad that even Clint had noticed, and gods only knew what Steve must be thinking.

“Oh, that’s me” the man smiled. “What can I help you with?”

Bucky raised an eyebrow, “You new? Last time I was here the librarian was an older man with a stick up his ass”

“Er, yes, he was transferred recently for… internal matters” the new librarian said awkwardly.

Bucky grunted. There was definitely more to that, but he didn’t care. At least he didn’t have to deal with the old prick, and this one seemed agreeable enough.

He held up the parchment, “I was told I needed to be a contributor to gain access to your _Helio’s_ _B_ _é_ _stialk Manusa_?”

The librarian blinked, “Uh, well, I’ve scrapped that old trade program, but you’re still welcome to contribute...” his words dropped off as he read what was written on the parchment Bucky held, eyes going wide.

“Is that the _Difulium Semnibus_?”

“Probably” Bucky shrugged. Fuck if he knew what it was, only that it was the only one of its kind and had been inside a den of giant spiders in the middle of an enchanted forest, whatever that meant. It hadn’t felt very enchanted to Bucky.

The librarian swallowed, “That is, um, quite the contribution” he said weakly, clearly wanting it.

“Look, I just want to go through your _Helio’s_ text, do I need to pay for it or not?”

“Oh, no, you can look for free, none of our books are restricted anymore, I can, ah, let you into our vault-”

“Can’t” Bucky interrupted, “Anti-mage” he said, tapping his chest.

“Oh, that’s um, unfortunate. Normally we don’t allow those books to, uh, leave the vault, but I could make an exception for you and your contribution” he said, eyeing the parchment hungrily. His eyes quickly snapped to Bucky after he spoke, hastily correcting himself “I mean, for you and your _condition_. It wouldn’t be fair to limit knowledge because of inaccessibility. I, uh, just-” he stammered out some excuse for how he misspoke.

Bucky smirked; he liked this guy. It was cute that he thought of Bucky’s disconnect from magic as a _condition_.

Well, now he wanted more than just a quickie with him.

“I’m Bucky, by the way” he held his hand out to shake, cutting off the mans rambles that were going nowhere.

“Oh, uh, I’m Leo, but, uh, people usually just call me Fitz” he said, taking Bucky’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Fitz” Bucky said warmly, and let his hand linger on the handshake.

Fitz swallowed and met his eyes, and there was interest there. Bucky’s smile turned flirtatious, and he leaned over the desk to get closer. “So what say you and I take a trip to the vault?”

* * *

_Thwang!_

Another arrow let loose from Clint’s bow, hitting a giant rat dead in its glowing red eye, and it dropped. Another crawled over it to take its place, and just as quickly got shot down. And again, and again, and so forth.

There were easily a hundred giant rats in this nest, the size of large dogs and more vicious than hornets, but they went down without much fuss. Clint just kept up his stream of headshots, never missing, nailing each rat through the eye.

He sighed as he took another shot, standing barely twenty feet from the nest entrance. So far none had made it past the opening, and Clint was going to have to start letting them get closer or risk blocking in the remaining ones with a wall of corpses.

Every death seemed to incense the rats more, and their screams turned into a droning shriek of rage as they rallied and pushed forth.

Clint stifled a yawn.

It was incredibly tedious work, and so _boring_. He was over halfway through the nest and running out of arrows.

He felt a presence behind him, and quick as lightning he turned and sent another volley of arrows to the small group of rats that had been coming up behind him, then turned back and continued dealing with the rest of the nest.

When he ran out of arrows, he pulled out his shortsword and got to whacking. He dealt with each rat swiftly, but not as fast as he would’ve with his bow. Ugh, it just kept _dragging on_.

After what felt like forever, he pulled his sword out of their queen’s head. He surveyed the carnage, making sure all were felled properly. Lucky said there weren’t any stragglers, and _thank fuck._ He didn’t feel like hunting down individual rats.

He took a moment to catch his breath, retrieving any salvageable arrows. _I_ _should buy an enchanted quiver_ , he thought. That’d be a quick way to get rid of all the gold he and Bucky had found.

He touched the tree above the nest and spoke the forest’s prayer, ensuring nothing foul would touch this place besides the natural beings of the land. If there was one thing worse than rats, it was _undead_ rats. Never again, he liked his ass bitten consensually, thank you very much.

He took one more look around and moved out before the smell got too bad. He made his way west, stopping at a stream and stripping off his weapons and boots. They were smeared in blood, and he needed to wash that off before he attracted something.

He was shaking water off his last bunch of arrows when he felt a familiar shiver along his skin. He looked over slowly…

“Aw, fuck” he muttered, spying the faerie ring that had cropped up around him on the river bank. A dozen white mushrooms in a perfect circle that hadn’t been there a minute ago. They surrounded him, leaving him at their centre.

He grimaced, these never meant anything good for him.

He looked back up, suddenly staring right into the eyes of a rat easily bigger than a house. It sat atop a throne of bone and detritus, within a huge domed nest of roots that he found himself in. The riverbank was gone, its only evidence his still wet boots and weapons.

As planar shifts went, the transition had been seamless.

The huge rat observed him, its red eyes boring into him inscrutably as its nose twitched.

“ _You slaughter. My children_ ” the giant rat spoke, and _oof_ , okay, he was in the court of the Rat Queen. Just peachy.

“Your excellency, I can explain” he started, putting on his most charming smile.

“ _I do not need. Explanation. By treaty. The kill is. Fair_ ” she spoke, stepping off her throne and stalking towards him. She stood on her back legs and started to shift, shrinking down and shedding her fur, until she stood before him as a forest elf. Clint swallowed, keeping his eyes on her face and not her naked body.

“Then if I may ask, why have I been brought into your court?” he asked politely, praying this would be nothing more than a slap on the wrist and he could leave.

“ _You slaughter with. Skill unseen. Beyond the Elflands_ ” she said, and her eyes looked him up and down.

“Uhhh, I’m a good shot?” he said stupidly.

She squinted her eyes at him and came closer. He stayed in a kneeling position, and she had to bend down to look at him. She inhaled noisily, sniffing him, and she scrunched her nose.

“ _You are. Elf?_ ” she asked.

“Half-elf” he answered.

“ _What. Elf?_ ”

“Uhhh, both?”

“ _Both?_ ”

“My dad was half winter, half forest”

“ _You are. Mutt?_ ”

“If you wanna call it that? I just go by half-elf, or, uh, mixed-elf if you wanna get particular with it” Clint offered tentatively.

She considered his words, and Clint tried to get a read on her. Was he in trouble? Was he being praised? Fey were finicky, and the royals were the worst for it.

She made a chittering noise. “ _You have. Forest elf. Blood in your. Veins_ ” she said, and was that a purr in her voice?

“ _You._ _Are quite. Handsome. Too_ ” she said, running a finger down the side of his face, her long nail scratching along his skin teasingly.

Clint swallowed. _Hoo boy_.

“Thanks, and you’re, uh, stunning in your beauty, too” he stammered out.

The Rat Queen preened at his compliment and she smiled, revealing her large incisors. They created a terrifying overbite, just as intimidating as if she’d had fangs.

Her fingers had traveled down his cheek to his chin, and she tilted his head up to meet her eyes. “ _I would. Lay with you._ _Mixed-elf_ _. For your skill. Is impressive_ ”

He licked his lips and swallowed again, because, _yeah_ , he’d definitely fantasized about a royal or two- have you _seen_ the Possum King’s cock?- but he hadn’t expected a fey royal to want _him_. The prospect made him dizzy with want, and he looked back into her eyes to see a predatory glint, like she knew she was about to have her way.

“Y’aright” he said distantly. He stood slowly, unslinging his weapon belt and quiver, leaving him in just his clothes and armor.

The Rat Queen smiled toothily and crooked a finger at him, walking backwards to a bedding area made of fur scraps.

He followed her, slowly shedding his clothes, dropping them on his path towards her. By the time he reached her, he was just as naked as she was. She ran a hand over is chest and along his arms, then with sudden speed she grabbed his hips to yank him close, setting them flush against each other. With one hand she pulled him in for a kiss, holding him steady by the hair, while she stroked his back with the other.

Clint moaned into the kissed and brought his hands to her sides, keeping his grip steady and giving up control to her. She knew what she wanted, and he was gonna enjoy the ride, wherever it took him.

She nipped at his lip, then pulled his head back by the hair, revealing the line of his throat so she could gently bite at it. He sighed contently and hummed, grinding against her thigh.

“ _You are. Eager_ ” she said with a laugh in her voice, nipping at where his neck met his shoulder, all while she walked them backwards to the bedding until they tumbled into it. She pulled him down on top of her, and he moaned again as he let his weight bear down, putting more pressure on his cock.

She hummed appreciatively, running her hands through his hair. He felt her unexpectedly sharp nails scratch on his scalp, and it send a shiver down his neck and spine. In turn he ran his hands down her sides, then around to squeeze her ass. She wiggled and shifted, realigning them so his cock rubbed against her wet heat, and he gasped at the sensation.

She wrapped one leg around his waist and encouraged him to move, setting him at a steady pace against her. He breathed heavy into her shoulder, thrusting at the speed she set and enjoying the wet glide against his cock. He braced one of his arms into the bedding, and furrowed his brow when he felt it shift under his hand.

He kept up the pace and heard the Rat Queen make a pleased chittering sound, but his curiosity got the better of him, and he pulled at the scraps to peek underneath.

Clint’s eyes widened as he saw rats; practically a solid wall of them writhing and skittering amongst each other. _I’m on a bed of rats_ , he realized. The furs were only the top layer, the whole thing was a swarm.

_Nope._

He quickly replaced the fur he’d pulled aside, hiding the view and putting it out of his mind. _Court of the Rat Queen, there’s gonna be rats_ , he reminded himself, and shifted his focus back to the fey in question.

“So, uh, anything, _unf_ , specific you wanna do? Not do?” he panted. Not that this was bad, but you know, _communication_.

“ _I want you. Inside_ ” she moaned, high and squeaky, her own hips thrusting to meet his.

_Okay then_.

He reached down to slide his fingers along her slit, and pushed in with two digits to feel her warm walls around him. She was so incredibly wet- he felt some of it leak down to his wrist, and _wow_ , that was wet. His mouth salivated; he wanted to taste it.

He brought his fingers to his mouth and sucked them cleaned, moaning at the earthy taste, like the roots of a sycamore in the spring. She watched him taste her and chittered again, grinning. Then she wiggled her hips, reminding him of what he’d been about to do.

He readjusted his stance and reached between them, guiding himself in. He pushed past her entrance and moaned along with her as he slowly sank into her. Once he was fully seated, she tightened her grip and encouraged him to move.

He settled himself into the rhythm she’d set, rolling his hips to get the right angle, and got a pleasured squeak for his efforts. She scraped her nails down his back, and he arched into the touch, letting out a shaky breath. He kept one arm braced on the bedding, and he used his other hand to roll her breast in his palm, swiping his thumb across her nipple to elicit a shiver from her. He did it again, and she drew her nails across his back harder, nearly breaking the skin, which made his hips stutter at the pleasure-pain.

“ _Go. Faster_ ” she ordered, bringing both legs around his waist and pulling him close. He took her order to heart and picked up the pace, getting more tiny squeaks from her with each thrust. He moaned again, hiding his face in her shoulder and breathing in the scent of earth and mildew, losing himself in the feel of her around his cock.

He luxuriated in the noises she made and the pleasure he could give her, loving how her nails ran down his back and leaving what must be a wreck of scratches in his skin. He peeked at her face and admired her expression, the intense look of pleasure she held, how it was relaxed but powerful.

Her noises became more desperate as he picked up speed. He worked his hand between them to rub at her clit, making her grip him tighter until she let out a screech that made him wince. She’d dug her hands into his shoulders and shook underneath him, so he’d take it that she was coming.

He felt her walls spasm against his cock, and he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her tightly against him, breathing heavy as he worked her through her orgasm.

He gradually slowed his movements as she relaxed underneath him, and he kissed her neck gently while she bathed in the afterglow. He let his hips grind the smallest amount, not enough to overstimulate, but just a little movement for his own pleasure while he waited for her to come back to herself.

The Rat Queen hummed and stretched, looking satisfied as a cat. As a rat?

“ _You are. Good at that_ ” she said, rolling her neck and smiling.

“Thanks, you’re quite good too” he said, smiling back. Up close like this, she reminded him of earthen tunnels and warm nests, in the strange way fey lord auras worked.

“ _I want. To. Go again_ ” she said, running a finger down Clint’s neck, making him shiver.

“I’m ready when you-” he started to say, but a pitched scream cut him off, making him flinch.

“ _WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?!_ ”

Clint turned and saw a horde of giant rats screeching next to the throne, their glowing eyes all hatefully turned towards them. The rats were writhing in a pile, their tails entwined in a corded mess, and Clint felt his stomach drop.

_The Rat King._

“ _I am. Being pleasured. Something you would. Not know how to. Do”_ the Rat Queen said, cavalier and unashamed, grinning wide at the King.

Clint’s eyes widened, and the mass of rats hissed in rage.

_Aw fuck._

* * *

Bucky leaned against the steel wall of the vault, waiting for Fitz to emerge with his tome. He’d sent him in with the parchment, which was apparently rare enough to go in with the other treasured texts. The vault was in their basement, which was currently empty of any patrons.

Ten minutes after he’d gone in, Fitz came out with the moderately sized book in his arms. “Sorry for the wait, I had to store the _Semnibus_ in a protected drawer so it doesn’t degrade, but I got the- mmf!” he grunted in surprise as Bucky crowded into his space and kissed him.

He’d frozen with the shock, but melted as Bucky pressed in more, opening his mouth and kissing back. Bucky rested his arms on the wall above Fitz shoulders, boxing him in but leaving his arms free to push away if he wanted.

Bucky made the kiss hot and dirty, with sliding tongue and wet lips, and he slowly brought their hips together to add pressure, feeling himself already hard and Fitz on the way there.

Fitz placed a hand on his chest and pushed the smallest amount, and Bucky backed off, breathing hard. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and raised an eyebrow in question.

Fitz licked his lips and swallowed audibly before speaking, “The, ah, book you wanted?” he held up the tome, and Bucky glanced at it briefly before looking at Fitz hungrily.

“Why don’t you read it to me?” he said hotly, pulling Fitz over to one of the scribe tables.

“The whole thing?” he asked, unsure. It wasn’t an especially big book, but it would still take a few hours to read, let alone read aloud.

“I’m looking for stories about bleeding from wounds made without weapons” he specified, placing the book on the table and positioning Fitz in front of it, standing.

“Like menstruation?”

“Sure, those too; include any story with bleeding” he said, shifting Fitz slightly.

Fitz had a confused look, but went along and opened the index, searching for the stories Bucky wanted. Bucky knelt into the space between Fitz and the desk, running his hand up the robe along his thighs. No opening, he’d have to duck under.

“Here’s one: _The Fable of Ardul and the Prisoner_ ”

“Read it” Bucky ordered, ducking under Fitz’s robes and groping at the next layer of cloth beneath.

“Verbatim, or would you like it summarized?” he asked, utterly professional.

“Summarized” he said, pulling Fitz’s underwear down. He’d ask for a direct reading if it held the answer he was looking for.

“Okay; Ardul, daughter of the godking, was seeking a wife, but she was forbidden to walk amongst the people. She snuck out disguised as a peasant, and took only a knife, a bell, and a- _gah, fuck!_ What are you doing?!” he suddenly eked out as Bucky took his cock into his mouth.

Bucky pulled off. “What did you think I was gonna do?” he asked curiously from under the robes.

“I honestly didn’t notice you go under there in the first place” Fitz admitted sheepishly, and Bucky laughed.

“Well can I keep going or do you need your cock to read?”

Fitz sputtered for a moment, and Bucky imagined he was flustered. “No, I uh, I can read without it, you can, uh, carry on”

Bucky patted his leg and took him back into his mouth, sucking gently as the librarian slowly hardened on his tongue.

“Ahem, so, the uh, _Ardul_ , she goes out with a knife, a bell, and a silver coin, and, and she goes to the theater where, _h_ _nn_ , where people are gathered in a crowd to watch” he read. Though his voice got strangled and he stuttered some words, he kept up his summary in a clear and precise tone as Bucky followed along, idly sucking his cock.

They got through three stories- impressively- before he came, and Bucky knelt there still, gently working him back to hardness over another story, and going through five more before Fitz came again.

Bucky had come three times in the course of the reading, fisting his cock under Fitz’s robes and pumping his hips, but his brow had creased in frustration. None of the stories held answers, and he felt the sinking feeling of disappointment in his gut. He’d exhausted all his options on his private search, which only left him his last resort; seeking outside help.

He pulled off as Fitz finished the last story, something about a man who bled from the eyes when it rained, and tucked the librarian back into his underwear. He crawled out from under the robes and stood, swallowing the last of the come in his mouth, thinking about where to go from here.

He turned to Fitz and his eyes softened at the sight. The man was out of it, leaning on the desk for support and catching his breath, his eyes unfocused. Bucky put a pin in his thoughts and gently guided the librarian into a chair. He pulled a seat across from Fitz, resting his arm on the back of the other chair so he could run his hand though the librarian’s hair.

“That was…” he trailed off.

“Educational” Bucky finished for him. Not as educational as he’d have liked, but certainly entertaining.

“Did you find your answer then?” he asked curiously, wiping the bit of sweat off his brow with his sleeve.

“No, but doesn’t mean I didn’t learn something”

Fitz nodded sagely, and Bucky held back a chuckle. He was sweet.

Fitz’s gaze turned to the book he’d been reading from. “If there’s nothing else you needed from this text, I’ll be putting it back now. I’m breaking quite a few rules just leaving it open as it is”

Bucky nodded and let him go, watching as he swept the book into his arms delicately and took it back to the vault on shaky legs. He returned a short time later, rejoining Bucky at the table.

Bucky leaned his chin on his fist, looking Fitz up and down. “So when did you replace the old geezer?”

“Oh, uh, last week roughly, there was a bit of a shaky transition” he answered nervously.

Bucky cursed, grimacing. “I wasted four weeks in the wilds getting a document for that ass, I could’ve been fucking at the brothel until you showed up” he huffed.

“Well, I wouldn’t call your efforts _wasted_ ” Fitz said, “You found a lost parchment that dictates the last will of the _Difulium_ people, it has great philanthropic merit! You’re going to make a great many linguists happy with this contribution”

Bucky took in his joyful expression, and couldn’t help smiling back. “You take a lot of pleasure from seeing people  learn , huh?”

Fitz flushed, “It’s gratifying I’ll admit, but, I uh, I think knowledge is a right- for anyone who wants it, of course. I love seeing people expand their mind and get a greater understanding of the world” he smiled wistfully, but then his expression turned dark. “The last librarian had... different ideas, and he turned away a lot of people for petty reason. I was actually the one to report him to the librarian’s association, and I’m finding more and more that I don’t regret that”

He watched the indignation play across Fitz’s face, and had to smile softly. Here was another soul who fought for their belief in what as right.

“You remind me of my husband” Bucky commented.

Fitz froze, eyes going wide, and it made Bucky chuckle.

“Relax, it’s an open marriage” he assured. Fitz settled, but he held an uncertainty in his gaze now.

“It doesn’t bother him? Or you?”

Bucky shrugged. “We don’t see each other for years on end, it’d be unfair to ask for celibacy”

He nodded, reluctantly accepting the answer. “What keeps him away, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Crusade”

“Ah, a cleric then?”

“Something like that,” Bucky smiled, “though he’s beholden to no gods” He didn’t go around advertising his connection to a Paladin, that was a quick way to be killed- or ransomed. Not that Bucky was helpless, but he’d rather not go through the trouble at all. He didn’t much care for bloodbaths like he used to.

Which reminded him of the problem he was having, and how Steve must be tangentially aware of it by now.

Already Bucky was feeling the urge, and all he wanted was to sit on the librarian’s lap and ride his cock ‘til sundown. He pushed the feeling aside, something he’d been having to do more and more over the last few months. It was becoming a serious problem.

And then there was the thing with his shoulder, which _had_ to be related. So far he’d found nothing, and his trip here had been a bust.

“A godless cleric?” Fitz asked in confusion.

Bucky just smiled knowingly. He couldn’t give more detail without revealing Steve’s title.

He clapped Fitz’s shoulder once and stood. “Thanks for the reading; if I’m ever in need of research, I’ll be sure stop in”

“Oh, uh, y-yes, of course. Stop by anytime” he replied, flustered again as Bucky scoured him with an appreciative eye.

As much of a waste of time this pursuit had been, it had its silver linings. And now he’d confirmed one thing as a certainty: he wouldn’t be able to solve this on his own.

But where to start? He didn’t know of any mages that didn’t either hate or fear him.

Maybe Clint knew someone?

* * *

Coulson was trying to figure out how he was supposed to fit forty-three rangers into thirty-eight sleeping quarters when he felt a premonition. He wasn’t by any means touched with Sight, but his gut was telling him something torrid was on approach, and he frowned.

Outside his door he heard a murmur from the transferred rangers that had come in from Broali, all waiting for him to assign them new quarters. Not a second later was his door kicked in by Barton, who looked absolutely livid.

And also completely naked.

“I’m taking leave!” he yelled, slamming his completed commission onto Coulson’s desk.

Coulson raised a brow and took the form, adding it to the very small ‘completed’ pile. Any other ranger would’ve taken at least a week, but Barton had knocked it out in an afternoon.

“You’ve been on leave for five months, this was your first job coming back” he said calmly.

“And it’s my last one before going on leave!” Clint frothed. “I’m _done_ , I’m _finished_ ; no more dungeons, and sure as fuck no more _clean-outs_ ”

“Upset because the rats stole your clothes?” he asked dryly, casting a glance at Barton’s form. But only a glance.

“No, that’d be the _Rat Queen!_ ” he seethed, and Coulson’s eyes widened. The Rat Queen? But it had been _giant_ rats. They were allowed to slay those with indemnity by the old treaties.

“You were brought to the Rat Queen?”

“Yeah, and used as a fucking _cuckhold_ against the _Rat King_ _!_ ” he raged, and Coulson’s mouth dropped. Several rangers peeked in from outside the door, their eyes wide in shock at what they were hearing.

“I don’t know where I stand with rats anymore, but trust me when I say _it_ _ain’t a good place_. I’m gonna have to clear this area for sure, and maybe spend the next year in a fucking _city_ until this blows over!”

Barton was breathing heavy, and his eyes held the sheen of deep anger. Coulson slowly reached into his drawer and pulled the Leave of Absence form, placing it in front of Barton and wordlessly handing him a pen.

Barton angrily scribbled his signature and pushed it back to Coulson, then stomped out of his office, ignoring the blatant stares of the other rangers as they gawked at the reddened scratches along his back.

Coulson took his stamp and approved the form, quickly checking _m_ _ental health_ as the stated reason for the leave, and then after a moment of hesitation, checked _indefinite_ for duration. He tucked the form back into his drawer to deal with later.

Well, now he had to figure out how to fit forty- _two_ rangers into thirty-eight quarters.

* * *

Bucky sat in Clint’s bed, twirling a letter between his fingers. He’d exercised self-restraint and only jacked off _once_ while waiting, face buried in Clint’s pillow while inhaling his scent, imagining fucking that perfect mouth.

He didn’t have to wait long after that. Clint slammed his door open and stomped in, naked as a jaybird and lightly streaked in dirt. Bucky ran an appreciative eye over his frame, enjoying the sight.

“How’d your meeting go?” he asked, ogling Clint’s ass. He noted the scratched on his back. Somebody had gotten lucky.

“Fine; I’m going on leave” Clint answered tersely.

“Doesn’t sound too fine”

“I got an angry fey royal on my ass, gotta clear out and go somewhere urban for a while”

“Bummer”

Clint grunted in agreement, pulling on a set of clothes.

“You got a letter” Bucky mentioned, waving it at Clint.

“Who from?”

Bucky examined the seal, “Harlot’s guild”

Clint paused with his shirt halfway on. “What?” he asked, apprehension in his voice. “What do they want?”

Bucky shrugged; fuck would he know?

Clint held out his hand and Bucky passed it to him, patiently waiting while his friend read the letter inside.

He watched as Clint lowered the paper and run a hand over his eyes. “Fuuuuuuck” Clint groaned.

“What do they want?” he asked, curious now.

“Okay, so you know how I haven’t been taking any commissions these last few months?” Clint started.

“You mean your five months doing fuck-all?”

“Yeah, and, uh, you also know how I don’t really subscribe to the philosophy of materialism- like, I hate having more than five gold on me at any time?”

“Uh-huh” Bucky said slowly. These were all things he already knew.

“So, uh, to go those five months without commissions, I was hunting and gathering my meals, no problem, right? But there aren’t exactly any drinks in the forest, so…”

“Oh Clint, you didn’t”

Clint nodded tightly. “I was trading blowjobs for ale at O’Hoggerts Tavern”

Bucky groaned at Clint’s idiocy. “You didn’t think to get a harlot’s license? They give out temporary ones for short-term work”

“I know! But you have to sign paperwork and give a tithe on each job, but it’s _beer_ , there’s no money involved!”

“They don’t ask for tithe on temporary work you _idiot_ ” Bucky admonished.

“But I still have to fill out paperwork, and that’s _dumb_ ” Clint huffed. “I give someone a good time and they repay the favour. Why complicate it?”

“Because the harlot’s guild is strict about this sort of thing! They don’t like independent contractors!” Bucky hissed.

The harlot’s guild was no joke; they held an iron-grip monopoly on the sex market, and they took unlicensed work _very_ seriously. One-offs were ignored, and if Clint had only done it for no more than a week they wouldn’t have bothered; but he’d been doing it for _five months_.

“Yeah, well, I’m paying for it now. I’ve got a summons to their headquarters to have my case judged and pay the fine”

Bucky furrowed his brow in confusion. “You can’t stop by the local brothel and drop your fees there?”

Now Clint was looking sheepish. “Well, this is sorta my sixth infraction, and uh, it says I was audited by their department recently. It’s been determined that I don’t require the work for survival, so I’m being judged and fined”

Bucky ran a hand across his face. Clint was a real idiot sometimes.

Clint looked at the sack of gold he’d looted from their quest. “At least I don’t gotta take more commissions to afford it” he said, then frowned. “I was gonna buy an enchanted quiver with that gold”

“Maybe next time you come into some extra coin, tuck it away for drinks later. Or get a fucking license”

Clint sighed, collapsing into a chair and accepting his fate.

“I could go with you” Bucky offered after a pause. This might work well for him, actually.

Clint looked up hopefully, “Really?”

“Yeah, I got nothing going on”

Clint smiled, his mood brightening.

“Just one thing, if it’s not too much” Bucky said.

“Name it”

“You wouldn’t happen to know any casters who don’t hate anti-mages, would you? Someone we could meet on the way?”


	3. Chapter 3

“Death to the Paladin!” screamed the armored soldier, raising her sword and swinging it haphazardly. Steve blocked it, pushing her away from him.

“Stop, I only wish to talk” he implored, bringing his shield up to block the volley of arrows their archers fired at him. They didn’t seem to care that some of those arrows hit their own. Some had even died by the sword of their brethren who’d swung too enthusiastically.

Steve outclassed them all and could’ve easily struck down this force; but he wasn’t here to slaughter.

“Parley! I request a peaceful conference by your honour!” He shouted over their battle cries.

“We will have honour only in your death!” another shouted, thrusting his sword at Steve’s stomach and missing.

“I come to you in peace, I’ve shed no blood!” he tried again, shoving two more soldiers away and bashing a third to the ground with his shield. He spoke the truth; though a few would be heavily bruised, he hadn’t done anything more than block with his sword.

“You are a fool, and your words of peace will be your downfall!” shouted a voice from beyond the throng of warrior surrounding him. He spared a glance to the source and cursed- a robed woman holding a blackened tome. Some kind of caster, probably a warlock judging from the excessive piercings.

“It’ll be your own downfall if I’m slain! I do not say this as threat, but as warning!” He shoved another soldier away while dodging a sword. “My sygil! Take heed of my sygil!” he yelled, holding out his shield and the symbol that was adorned on it. A five-point star inside a circle, the universal symbol for his kind.

“It is your death that the Father demands, and we will give it to him!” she shouted back, twisting her hands in the start of a spell.

“Do not cast! You’ll doom yourself and your people!” he shouted, trying to warn her. He shoved at the soldiers in front of him, sending several crashing to the sand below, but too late. She had woven her spell, and he saw the wide arc of it, the sign of something that would spread out and kill some of her own. He raised his shield in hopes of sparing himself, and in turn sparing the entirety of the battle party. He still held hope of getting answers from them.

An arc of electricity cackled from her hands, striking the metal armor of her people first and running a path straight to him. Though his shield didn’t conduct electricity, the rest of his plating _did_ , and the energy jumped over his shield and into his armor.

He cried out as the electricity burned him along his arms and chest, scorching the flesh until it blackened. His heart shuddered unevenly in his chest as sharp pain radiated from it, shooting up his neck and jaw. He fell to the sand in convulsions, and the world turned hazy as the victory cries of the soldiers rang in his ears, and then faded to black.

* * *

Steve sat up and gasped, then coughed as he choked on dust. He spent a minute hacking it out, then looked around.

He sat at the epicenter of a huge crater coated in ash, the stuff spread out around him in a mile radius. Nothing remained of the war party save for a few scraps of twisted metal poking out from the soot. Their flesh and bones would’ve burned away, mixed in with the rest of the ashen aftermath.

They’d assured their own destruction with his death.

“Fuck!” he shouted, unable to help his frustration. He kicked some ash into the air and frowned heavily. He’d really needed answers from those people. This was the third group who’d killed him rather than talk in a _week_.

He looked down and sighed at himself. Like the soldier’s gear, his armor had melted too. As had his sword, and literally all his items. He was left naked in the middle of the desert. Again.

At least his shield had survived. It was the only item he carried that ever did, and it had been his most loyal companion over the decades.

He stood and wiped some of the ash from his skin, not that the action cleaned him any. He’d need to bathe to get it all off, and the nearest excess of water was a three-day walk. _J_ _oy_ , he thought.

He grabbed his shield and moved through the wreckage, poking at some of the surviving metal with his foot. The ground had turned abrasive, and he wiped a layer of ash away to find the sand underneath turned to crude glass. The stuff would fetch a high price on the magic ingredients market, but it would be buried by sand long before anyone found it.

He moved on, but stopped when something caught his eye. An edge- the tiniest corner of something- sticking out of the ash. He crouched down and examined it, wiping away the dirt until he could make out the half of an emblem. The other half was encased in glass, but he’d free it easily with a few hits of his shield.

He smiled. _Now_ he was getting somewhere.

* * *

Steve pushed past the dense jungle foliage, cutting the occasional vine as it tangled in his new armor, but careful to do so sparingly. The forest had taken note of his presence, and he intended to stay in its good favour.

He ducked under another set of hanging leaves, and came out to a tight clearing. At its centre was a hut of stone, untouched by any plant life. As he walked into the open space between the jungle and the hut, he found the flies that had been bothering him failed to follow past the trees.

His steps crunched on dried and dead brush underfoot, with the occasional bleached white bones in the mix.

He removed his sword and laid it carefully on the ground, along with his two daggers. His helmet joined the pile, but he kept the rest of his armor with him, stepping up to the entrance of the hut. Only a pervasive darkness acted as the door, and he stepped through it with held breath.

On the other side was a darkened room, larger than what the outside structure would hold. Candles sat atop nearly every surface, but their flames were far too muted. He stepped into the centre of the space and sunk to his knees.

“Wyrde Mother, I come in peace and with offering” he announced, pulling out a braided cord of virgin hair, which had been surprisingly easy to acquire. Apparently, a lot of virgins made good coin selling bodily fluids and such. Steve couldn’t fathom the thought of it- people _killed_ to get a single piece of his hair, he’d cause chaos if he started selling the stuff.

The shadows in the room shimmered and writhed until the hunched form of an old woman appeared, standing over him. She was draped in furs and dust, a veil of white hair like spider-webbing shrouded her features. She reached a bony hand out, and Steve placed the braid in it. She tucked it into her robes.

“Speak, Paladin-kai. I will listen” she husked.

Just then he felt a pooling warmth in his stomach and the stirring of his cock, and he closed his eyes briefly.

_Not now. Please, not when I’m in a Wyrde’s den._

But Bucky wouldn’t have heard his prayer, and he was going to have to power through this.

“A thanks and a blessing, Wyrde Mother” he said, touching his fist to his forehead in respect. “I come asking knowledge” he paused and swallowed as ghostly fingers ran down his back, cupping his ass. “I have a symbol of which not the learned sages of the _Kul’ann_ can place, and I ask if you would tell me of its lore”

He pulled out the metal emblem, and the Wyrde leaned in to examine it. He held perfectly still as he felt hot breath along his neck, as a mouth licked at his pulse point and deft fingers slowly opened him, and was thankful he’d kept on the armor which now hid his growing erection. He’d gotten better at repressing them, but he’d just come out from a naked trek through the desert and another day’s hike in a jungle, with only a single night of rest between- he was in no condition to hold back.

The Wyrde was slow in her examination, careful not to touch Steve while she angled her head this way and that, taking in the marking. Steve suppressed a shudder as he felt the slick warmth of another mouth on his cock, all the while having two fingers pumped in-and-out of him from behind.

“Hmm, yes. I ken of this” she breathed, her voice like wind in a graveyard- and _oh fuck_ , the fingers pulled out, and the blunt head of a cock replaced them. The cock slowly breached him, pushing in with tiny movements that sent electric pleasure into Steve’s own fully hardened dick. He grit his teeth and forced his eyes to stay open and focused on her, all while composing his breathing at a slow pace. His leg muscles locked so he wouldn’t accidentally thrust his hips.

“I will speak of its meaning or its origin, but not of both, Paladin-kai, for your payment is short. Of which will you hear?”

Steve stayed quiet as if in very serious deliberation of his choice, when in actuality he was dealing with the fact that the cock in his ass had gone in all the way, and slowly pulled back, only to _shove_ back in without warning, and he was suddenly getting fucked _hard_ and _fast_ and _oh gods it was good_. Whoever it was had a skillful aim, hitting his prostate with every thrust and sending liquid pleasure into Steve’s groin. He could feel his underwear turn damp as he leaked pre-come into the restraining material.

All the while his cock pulsed as someone else sucked him off, pushing down to the root and pulling back fast, swirling a tongue over the head and repeating the move. A moan was working its way out of his throat, and he breathed slowly until it passed.

“You fear me, Paladin-kai” she observed. “I see it in your countenance, how terror-struck you are; even your breath is shooken” The Wyrde chuckled at this, amused.

Well, at least she hadn’t caught-on yet.  He didn’t acknowledge her comment, because there were rules to this interaction and he was too distracted to remember them all.  He  was having trouble thinking clearly, but he had to choose; meaning or origin? He knew the meaning; she’d say it was the  _Father_ , the only goddamn thing the cultists ever told him about their master. It would be a hit-or-miss if she  even told him who this  _Father_ was at all.

“Its origin, Wyrde Mother” he answered, and licked his lips quickly. It took all his concentration to hold still, to not make a sound as hands groped his chest, his arms, his thighs. He felt a warm body rubbing against him from behind, the tight grip on his hips as they fucked into him. A second pair of hands ran over the front of his body, snaking up to pinch at his nipples, and Steve’s mouth twitched in reaction, but he held still with all his power.

He was going to _kill_ Bucky.

“So it will be, Paladin-kai” she acknowledged. “You bring me a mark from the _Asg_ _å_ _rd_ peoples, one of their many-a Sygils of Olde. This one beget in the time of _B_ _ú_ _ri_ , before the city was drowned, and officiated by the first of the-”

She went on about the details of the symbol’s making, but Steve had gotten his answers in her first sentence. A mark of the Asgard people gave him a direction- and his next lead.

But first he had to get through the rest of this ordeal, because he was close, he was _so close_ , and whoever was sucking him off had started palming his balls, and the person fucking him had slowed their pace but shoved in harder with each thrust, making Steve want to roll his eyes back and moan, and only his strict control kept him from doing it.

Steve swore to kick Bucky’s ass if he made him come inside a fucking _Wyrde’s den._

* * *

“ _Harder! Fuck me harder!_ ” Bucky shouted from within the carriage, and Clint looked back even though a curtain hid the inside from view. The sounds coming out of the back were downright _rambunctious_. Clint kinda wanted to join, except he’d just been in there ten minutes ago getting the soul sucked out of his dick by a very skilled sorcerer who’d made him see flames as he came.

And if he were honest, he was also out here because he was a little twitchy. He couldn’t shake the feeling of paranoia from his shoulders, even though Lucky was patrolling around the caravan.

They were a little over a week into their travels, having switched caravans at the last town they’d gone through, and they were passing through another forest. It was getting late into the night, and though the road was man-made enough to shield him, he was still too close to the woods for comfort. He needed to keep an eye on the underbrush for any glowing red eyes, if only for his peace of mind.

So he’s crawled out from the cramped foursome- leaving them a threesome- and joined the driver outside, idly running his hands over his bow as he scanned the treeline and half-listened to the moans and cries from behind him.

“Expectin’ company?” the driver asked after the fourth time Clint had stood to check the woods behind them.

“Not really, but you know; can’t be too careful” he answered.

The driver grunted, pulling another puff from his cigar. “Said you were travelin’ eastward, didn’t say nothing ‘bout running. Something I ought’a know? And think before you answer, bub, ‘cause I can smell a lie”

Clint regarded the driver, a short but gruff man who’d accepted payment for a ride with the only stipulation that they didn’t ‘get the other idiots back there killed’, which Clint had assumed referred to his two traveling companions that were currently railing Bucky.

“There’s a chance the Rat King’s gonna set his legion on me” Clint finally said, because the driver hadn’t been judgmental of the weird shit they were doing in the back, and seemed pretty cool.

“How much of a chance?” he asked as his eyes narrowed on Clint.

Clint see-sawed his hand, “Eh? The fey don’t go near artificial structures, I shouldn’t draw attention while we stick to roads”

The driver grunted and turned back to the horses. Since he didn’t boot Clint off, he’d take it as acceptance.

They rode on in companionable silence, with the steady clip-clop of hooves and the shouted exclamations of things like “ _Yes! Yes! Right there!_ ” and “ _That’s it, ride it_ _hard_ _!_ ” as ambient noise.

“You’re pretty chill about the whole deal back there” Clint noted after someone made a squealing noise, followed by a thump that shook the whole ‘van.

“Ain’t nothin’ new. Scott n’ Remy pick up hitchhikers like fleas, always end up startin’ shit like this” he grunted.

“Aw man, you mean Bucky and I could’ve hitched up for free?”

“No refunds” he said gruffly, exhaling a cloud of smoke off to the side.

“Dammit” he muttered, but he wasn’t particularly put out. The price had been fair.

After another minute of listening to the staccato “ _Ah, ah, ah!_ ” of someone getting fucked, he turned to the driver, “Hey, uh…” he paused, realizing he hadn’t caught his name.

“Logan” the driver supplied.

“Logan- you ever join them back there?”

He was trying to imagine Logan in a threesome, but he couldn’t picture the guy’s face with anything but his constant scowl, and the mental image was off-putting.

Logan took another puff, “Wouldn’t be caught dead fuckin’ those two numskulls”

“Ah, I get that. There’s this lady I hate- and I don’t use that term lightly- that goes to the same orgy night I go to, and she always ends up next to me. I try to keep away but she’s always trailing behind somewhere, always offering to ride me, when I _know_ the next day she _still_ won’t serve me donuts from her shop. Always refuses me service, won’t take my coin” Clint complained.

Logan grunted, but didn’t comment. Clint didn’t think he was the talking type.

“But anyway, it’s gotta be tough riding up front and never getting any of the action” Clint observed.

“It’s not a problem”

“Right, right, but, you know, if it _was_ , I wouldn’t mind havin’ some fun out here with you. Could suck you off while you drove” Clint offered easily, a touch of flirtation in his voice.

“Not really interested fella’s much” Logan replied, “And I got a woman at home. She’s it for me”

“Sounds nice” Clint said, leaning back and easily dropping his advances. “What’s she like?” he asked, curious now about the person who’d won this grouch’s heart.

“Quiet”

“Mm, yeah, guess you don’t like chattin’ much-”

“No, be quiet” Logan ordered, pulling the horses to a stop. He sniffed the air and growled.

Clint had an arrow nocked in the blink of an eye, scanning the forest for movement. His night vision was half-decent, but he couldn’t spot anything if it held still. Lucky was on alert and searching, but he didn’t report anything as of yet.

Logan pinched his cigar between his lips and pounded his fist on the body of the caravan in a patterned beat, and the sound inside quieted. Clint heard the whisper of movement as those within started to shuffle around, and a moment later a head poked out from the curtain.

“Problem?” the sorcerer asked.

“Someone’s casting at us” Logan answered shortly, and Clint felt minute relief that it wasn’t rats. He kept running his eyes across the treeline, but whoever was out there had hidden well in the darkness.

_FWOOM!_

Clint squinted at the sudden flare of brightness, then widened when he realized-

“FIREBALL INCOMING!” Logan shouted, releasing the horses and tackling Clint off his seat.

He hit the ground with an _oof_ as Logan’s surprisingly dense body crushed him, and a moment later the caravan exploded in flames. Clint could just make out Bucky and the others on the ground, having jumped out in time as well, and the scream of the terrified horses assured they hadn’t been hit either.

There was a ping in his head, and he got the location of the caster. _Good boy_ , he thought to Lucky.

“Bucky! North-east, fifty yards!” he shouted over the roaring flames as Logan got off him. He looked around but Bucky had vanished, though a moment later Lucky informed him that the caster was dead. A moment after that, Lucky informed him that the forest was filled with people- whatever magic that hid them gone with the death of their caster.

It was then that Clint caught movement in the woods, and from out of the trees came raiders dressed in darkened cloaks, brandishing a variety of weaponry.

“ _Blood for the Father!_ ” one shouted, and the rest echoed the call.

Clint groaned, rolling to his feet and shooting one through the head. Fucking _cultists?_ Beside him the sorcerer summoned a deck of cards, and they hovered around him in a glowing circle. The other guy- Scott?- was ramping up something powerful by the glow in his eyes. Logan turned into a bear.

He’d taken leave to _avoid_ trouble, yet here he was anyway.

Fuck.

* * *

A pair of eyes watched the battle unfold, observing as the ranger took down mark after mark.

_Impressive… I’ll be sure to stay close to this one._

From within the trees came a whisper of movement, and the stealth party that had been sneaking into the fray suddenly found their throats’ slit by a shadow, silent as the night.

_Of course, the Winter Soldier travels with him too. I’ll have to be careful just how close I get._

The pair of eyes disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Clint sat in the middle of the road and watched the sun rise slowly, painting the sky in a technicolour of warmth that did nothing to ease his sour mood.

“It wasn’t that bad” Bucky said next to him, bumping their shoulder together in comfort.

“We were fighting cultists all night, and we lost everything that was flammable. And my bow broke” he sulked.

“Yeah, but we won, and the coins are fine at least. We’ll pick up a new bow and supplies at the next town” Bucky said, trying to cheer Clint. “Oh! And horses. Always good when the animals come out okay” he added.

It _was_ good. Logan had offered to keep giving them a ride, especially when they’d proven good allies in the fight last night. The only caveat was one of them had to walk, as there were five of them and only two horses, and Logan wouldn’t burden his animals with more than two riders at a time.

“You’re naked” Clint added. He knew he was being a downer, but it had been a bad night. And his bow _broke_.

Bucky shrugged, his shoulder brace the only article he wore. “It happens”

Clint kept his gaze on the sunrise, pondering his choices in friends.

* * *

“You’re out” Steve said flatly.

“Ayup” the witch confirmed, chewing on a blade of grass and looking bored.

“This is the eighth magic shop I’ve stopped at, and everyone’s said they’re out of stock”

“Mmm, been a lot’a wanderin’ monsters of late, nat’ral components gettin’ hard to harvest”

“Is there anywhere at all I could get a potion of water breathing? Or a shark’s cloak? I’ll take a breathing cap even” Steve implored.

“Nawp, potion’s ‘re outta season ‘til the monsters clear, and if you’re wantin’ ‘chanted wares you’re gonna hafta go inlands”

Steve’s shoulder’s fell, resigning to the fact that he’d be adding another month’s travel to his search for answers. “Thanks anyway” he said, turning to leave.

“If’s you’re lookin’ for water breathin’” he called, making Steve pause, “I do knows of a ‘nother option”

“I’d hear it” he said, looking back to the witch.

“‘Round back o’ the Tenwoods is a pond full’a deep folk. They’ll grant you breathin’, but it ain’t for a weak con’stution”

Steve made a pained face, knowing what he was referring to. “Yes, I know how the Nixie’s deal in trade” he sighed.

The witch grinned wolfishly, blatantly looking him up and down. “Ayup, I reckon you do” he leered, and Steve gave a tight smile as he thanked him, leaving the shop quickly.

He made his way down the street in thought, ignoring the passerby’s that moved out of his way in reverence or fear, an act he was too often used to from the common folk, who only knew of Paladins from epics and lore.

He also ignored the surprised whispers from behind as they saw the sigyl on his shield, which rested on his back when not in use. The mark of his kind was even more shrouded in myth by nature of their rarity. The combination with his Paladin-hood made people think he was some godly figure of legend.

But honestly, he was just a guy at heart.

And right now he was a guy with a dilemma. His options were another month of travel or the Nixies, and both were unappealing in their own right.

But…

He needed answers, and the sooner the better, regardless of discomfort. So the Nixies it was.

“Fuck” he said to himself, hands on his hips. Now he needed to buy a cow.

* * *

Steve was panting lightly as he came up to the pond the next day, the handcart pulled behind him. He’d set out early that morning, leaving behind a very confused butcher as he hauled roughly nine-hundred pounds of meat from the town to here.

Steve was clad only in his traveling clothes and had left his armor behind- had exchanged it for the meat, in fact. There was no use for it on this next leg of his journey. His weapons and shield stayed with him, but he disarmed himself of them when he arrived.

The pond looked perfect, the water a clear and shimmering blue that reflected sparkling sunlight and making it impossible to see under the water. It wasn’t especially big, maybe ten feet or so, but if Nixie’s lived in it, then it would go much deeper than a pond had any right to.

No plant life poked from its shore, not a single reed or water lily, but the grass around it was luscious and green and teeming with life. The small smear of blood by the edge of the pool was the only hint he found of their presence.

He cast another look at the pond, but nothing stirred from within. Likely they’d fed recently, and that was all the better for him.

He glanced around until he found a stone. He hefted it in his hand, then tossed it into the pond and waited.

A moment later the stone was thrown back out, and a head peeked out from the surface, blinking at him owlishly with their large black eyes. Their frills stood erect on their head, giving the illusion of hair

“A fair greetings, Nixie. May we find talk over peace?”

The Nixie came closer to the shore, “Why not come in for a swim, and we can speak as equals” they smiled sweetly with closed lips.

“A kind invitation, but I’d prefer my flesh to stay on my bones” he smiled back.

The Nixie grinned wide now, showing off their rows of needle-sharp teeth. “Worth a shot” they said, and playfully sent a splash of water up with their tail.

“If you’re not coming in, then what do you want?” they asked, and Steve spotted more ripples as others joined below the surface.

“I’m looking for your blessing”

“Oh? You do know you’ll have to come closer if you want that? Much, _much_ closer” they said coyly, swimming in a circle. Other heads had started to poke out of the surface too, observing with mirth.

Steve smiled wryly, “I’m aware”

“So how do you propose that, if you won’t come in?”

Steve turned to the cart and pulled it closer, “I’ll come in, but I thought I’d give an offering first” he said, showing them the pile of raw meat.

“Oh, very clever! But is it enough to fill our bellies?” they asked with a predatory grin.

Steve hoped so. But just in case…

“Maybe not, but would my sigyl convince you I’m not good eatings?” he asked, angling his shield up and showing it to them.

The Nixie’s eyes narrowed at the star on his shield, and they looked back at Steve suspiciously. “Could be you’re lying”

“Could be” Steve agreed, putting the shield down. It didn’t matter what they thought, Steve had sewn the seeds of doubt now. He’d call it fair warning, and if they killed him, the fallout would be their own fault.

The Nixie huffed, splashing with their tail again. “You’re a bold one, I’ll say that” They turned up their chin, “Go on then, give us your offering and take your blessing”, and then ducked back under the water.

Steve took hold of the cart and tipped its contents into the pond, then stood back as the feeding frenzy began. They splashed and sloshed the water violently, making the pond look like it was boiling with how they disturbed it. He only caught glimpses of them, flashes of tails and hands and teeth between the bloodied meat and water.

In the chaos of it he couldn’t accurately count their numbers, but he guessed there were roughly ten of them. They worked fast, and soon enough Steve was left looking at red-tinted water with stray chunks of meat floating on the surface, but even that didn’t last long. The red faded before Steve’s eyes, and the remaining meat sank, until the pond magically returned to its innocent state as if nothing had happened.

Hopefully it had been enough to sate them all.

He pulled the cart away from the shore and stripped himself of his clothes, standing naked at the pond. The Nixies hadn’t resurfaced yet, and Steve entered the water without their harassment.

As he’d thought, it was much deeper than it should be, and he kept his head above the surface as he tread water, waiting for the Nixies to return from their deep feasting.

He didn’t have to wait long as he felt something touch is leg like a caress. A set of hands ran up his back, and then a Nixie surfaced behind him, pulling him flush to their chest. Their skin was covered in fine scales, and they dragged across his back with enough pull to give him goosebumps.

The Nixie made a clicking purr, bringing their mouth close to his ear to whisper against his flesh. “You’ve paid well, traveler. Allow us to grant you our blessing” They wrapped their tail around his leg, and Steve stopped his swimming, letting the Nixie to support him entirely.

They made another clicking noise and reached a hand for Steve’s face. This close, Steve could see the sharp claws and the fine webbing between the fingers, and he forced himself not to flinch away as it came straight at his face, only to firmly cup is cheek. The Nixie turned his head towards them and brought their lips together. Steve opened his mouth and let the Nixie in.

Their tongue was narrow at the tip, and they ran it over his top lip before entering his mouth. His and the Nixie’s tongues slid together, and a slow warmth started to pulse along Steve’s lips, spreading inwards. His face turned hot, and the inside of his mouth tingled pleasantly until it turned just as heated.

The warmth touched his mind like a lover’s body entangled with his. His eyes closed of their own volition and moaned, reaching back to pull the Nixie closer and take them deeper. There was another sound of clicking in front of him, but he was lost in the glow of the liquid ecstasy in his mouth, going deeper, deeper, _deeper_ , until it was sliding down his throat, and he swallowed, took in down and needed more. Needed this _deeper_ , needed it _inside him_.

Then the tongue was withdrawing, and he tried to keep it within. He swallowed and sucked and rubbed his tongue along the underside, tried to be good, and he was whimpering, _please_ , he needed it-

Then another set of hands took his face and turned his head, and a second Nixie had come flush with his chest and wrapped themselves around his other leg. They were kissing him now, and _yes, gods yes_ , he opened to them willingly, rapturously, as more warmth entered his mouth, and he moaned again.

“I think he likes it” a voice cackled. Other voices joined, but Steve paid them no mind because he was floating in bliss, his lips pressed against the cool mouth of the Nixie and swallowing them deeper into his throat as their tongue kept going.

The Nixie at his back nibbled on his neck, running their teeth along his skin, up and down the vein of his artery, and a quiet voice in his mind mused how that was dangerous. Then the Nixie’s tongue licked at his neck and he moaned long and loud around the tongue in his mouth, because here was more warmth pulsing at is neck and spreading to is chest. It was good, it was _so fucking good_.

The Nixie in front of him shifted, rubbing along his pecks, and the rough scales scraped his nipples, making him sigh. He tried to wrap his legs around their body, but the tails around him tightened and restrained, and together the two Nixie’s pulled his legs wider, and then there was a third, their hands groping up his leg from beneath the surface, climbing up, and then there was _another_ tongue- _fuck, oh fuck_ \- they were licking between his cheeks, and then pushing at his entrance, and oh gods it was inside him and still pushing deeper, deeper, _deeper._

Flames burned into his core, up his spine, igniting the warmth in his throat and setting him ablaze.

He thrashed in pure pleasure, it was _so much so hot so good_ and he was delirious with it. He tried to thrust back for more and suck the tongue in his mouth deeper, even though it was already running along the depths of his throat and choking him. He shed tears as his eyes rolled up into his head, and he was roiling.

Then there was even _more_ \- more Nixies surrounding him, gripping his arms and thighs and ankles, holding him tight so he couldn’t move, hands running along his back and his sides and his stomach, gripping his ass and biceps and throat, hands everywhere, touching and rubbing and _squeezing_.

And then their tongues, lashing his skins in hot bliss, licking at his legs, up his spine, _suckling on his fingers_ , and _fuckfuckFUCK,_ he wanted them to swallowed him, _swallow him whole_ , take him apart and eviscerate in for all he cared, as long as he could burn in this delirium for eternity. Their tongues were long and flexible and _strong_ , and they wrapped around his limbs, weaved between his fingers, went deeper into his throat and even deeper in his ass, and they locked him in their grip so he couldn’t move, only endure it and take it and love it.

And then a set of hands gripped his hips, and with the lightest touch, the barest pressure, a tongue feather around the head of his cock, and he _HOWLED_.

His muscle seized and the arms around him gripped tighter as the tongue on his cock slithered and curled, moving down his shaft and squeezing. Molten ecstasy burst through him, scourging him inside and out, and he fought and recoiled and yanked with all his might, because he needed, he needed, _he needed_ -

He needed to wake.

He opened his eyes.

A curious set of eyes looked back at him, the face of a Nixie with a wide grin cast in sharp shadows.

“ _You are blessed, traveler_ ” they said in his mind, and he looked around.

He was floating underwater, the surface of the pond a short distance above him sending beams of light into the silent water. None of the other Nixies were in sight save the one, and it made the water seem emptier than it should’ve.

He brought his hands to his neck and tentatively felt the area, feeling along the gills he now had, running a finger along the slit and shuddering at the strange sensation. He felt along the rest of his head and found a set of frills behind his ears that caught on his wrists, and then pulled his hands away to examined them too. He noted the larger set of frills along the outside of his arm and the fine webbing between his fingers. His skin had gained a blueish tint, and the texture had become almost rubbery in feel.

He tried bending his legs up to see if what he thought had happened _did_ actually happen, and ended up smacking himself in the face with his new tail. The Nixie laughed along with their brethren, the sound heard in his head rather than with his ears.

He ignored them and twisted his body, playing around with the new structure of his lower half. Where there had once been two jointed legs was now one flexible appendage, a single scaled tail that was three times as long as his legs had been, and ended with a flared fin at the end. He twisted it and coiled it and attempted short movements, learning the controls of his new body while the Nixies watched and laughed at his blunders.

He picked up the subtleties quickly, like he’d been born with it, like the water had always been his home- another perk of the Nixie’s blessing.

The one Nixie that had stayed circled him after he finished his tests, and they grinned wide. “ _What’ll you do now, traveler? You’_ _re_ _without legs and trapped in my home_ ”

Steve met the Nixie’s gaze and smiled back graciously. “ _A thanks to you and your brethren for your blessing, Nixie. I will be on my way now_ ” he said in the strange way they spoke though the mind. His assured demeanor seemed to confuse them, and he grinned internally. They thought they could trap _him_? As if.

He swam up and broke the surface, inhaling air into his lungs and coughing out the water. He went to the shore and clambered onto land, hauling himself to his gear.

“How will you travel when you’ve got no legs?” the Nixie asked from the pond, watching him.

“With my arms” he answered simply, donning is shirt. His weapon belt and shield holster still fit, but he had to twist the belt awkwardly so the sword wouldn’t dig into his side while he crawled.

“And where is it you’ll go?”

“There’s a river eight miles from here, it leads directly to the ocean”

“I don’t know this measurement”

“It’s a little over two leagues”

The Nixie clicked and whistled in surprise. “You’re going to crawl all that way?! On the land?”

“What can I say? I’m a bold one” he grinned cheekily, repeating the Nixie’s words back at them. The Nixie only regarded him in stunned silence.

He twisted around and set off at a literal crawling pace, dragging his considerably heavier body across the forest floor. The prospect of eight miles of this wasn’t pleasant, but he’d traveled under worse conditions.

As he wormed his way into the underbrush, the Nixie called back to him with a final parting advice.

“Well don’t spend too long in the salt, that shit’s bad for the skin!”


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky woke to the sight of a horse’s ass in his field of view. He had to blink a few times before he realized the reason it looked so wrong was because it was upside-down.

Then he looked up and saw a dirt road, and caught on that _he_ was upside-down. He’d been draped across the back of the horse, right behind the rider whose ass was pressed against his side. He groaned and closed his eyes tightly, trying to will the pressure in his head to go away.

“Oh, look who’s up!” Clint said, and Bucky groaned again. He hid his face in the side of the horse.

“Ey, come on now, rise and shine!” Clint encouraged, pulling the horse to a stop and dismounting. “Let’s get you back up and sitting, it’ll probably be better for your head anyway”

Bucky only grunted in answer, and he let Clint help him off. Clint supported his weight while he swayed, all the blood rushing away from his head now that he was rightways.

“Fuck, what happened?” he groaned, pushing his palms into his eyes as he rubbed away the last of the ache.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

Bucky had to take a minute to think of an answer. “Uh, we split with Logan’s crew at Greenwich and bought a horse, rode for a few hours, and then…” his brow furrowed. “Did we stop at an orgy?”

“More like Steve did” Clint laughed. “We were riding and suddenly you fell off and thrashed like I’ve never seen. Kept screaming Steve’s name until you came in your pants and fainted”

Bucky’s brow furrowed, grasping at the memory from Clint’s description. “It kinda felt like drowning” he mused distantly.

“Weird?”

“Yeah” Bucky said, then frowned as he tried to remember. It was all vague in his mind, a bare sense of pleasure and the ghost of many hands touching him. It was disappointing, and Bucky was a little crestfallen he hadn’t retained the memory of it like he usually did.

“You good to ride some more?”

“Yeah”

They got back on the horse, and he let himself lean into Clint’s back, resting his chin on Clint’s shoulder while holding him loosely. He grimaced when he felt the sticky mess in his underwear, but turnabout was fair play, and he couldn’t blame Steve for it.

“How long was I out?” he wondered.

“Few hours. I let you rest by the road, but when you didn’t wake I put you up. Figured its better we get to Minallow before sunset”

Bucky hummed in agreement.

“So, listen” Clint started after they’d ridden a good while in silence. “When you were enjoying your soul-bond or whatever, you were moving around a lot” he said, keeping his gaze on the road ahead as he spoke.

“Uh-huh” Bucky acknowledged when Clint didn’t go on.

“So, uh, while you were wiggling and stuff, you’re, uh, brace shifted, and I, uh, saw the blood” Bucky froze as Clint continued. “And then I was like ‘oh shit he’s hurt’, so after you stopped I got to lookin’ to see if it needed bandaging, and, uh, I saw underneath”

Bucky held still, and he’d loosened his hold on Clint. He didn’t even know how to begin explaining.

“So I’m guessing that’s the thing you needed a mage for? And I’m not judging or anything,” he quickly added, “but, uh, do you wanna talk about it?”

Bucky relaxed at Clint’s words. Of course he wouldn’t be disgusted, Clint had seen some real shit in his life, this probably didn’t compare. But Bucky was an _anti-mage_ , shit like this didn’t happen to him- it _couldn’t_ happen to him- which meant something seriously weird had gotten him in its crosshairs.

“It’s… I think its a curse?” Bucky finally said into Clint’s back, glad they weren’t facing each other. Clint was quiet for another minutes, and Bucky was getting worried.

“You can’t get cursed, right? So its like, really weird?”

Bucky let his silence be the answer.

“That sucks, man” Clint finally said.

“Yeah, it does” Bucky said after another pause. Bless Clint- most others shunned people with curses, afraid they’d catch it too. That went double for him. The handful of doctors he’d tried seeing all tossed him out, and the one cleric had doused him in holy water before calling on his god to smite him.

“Okay, and it just sorta, bleeds? Randomly? Or is it on a cycle?” Clint asked curiously.

“You seriously wanna know?”

“Yeah man. Your problem’s my problem, let’s work this out”

Bucky smiled, tucking his head into Clint’s neck for a quick embrace, then resting his chin back on Clint’s shoulder to answer. “It’s triggered, and get this- when I _orgasm_ ”

“ _No_ ” Clint looked back now, disbelief on his face.

“Yup” Bucky nodded.

“That’s fucked up!”

“Right?!”

“How’ve you been keeping it from soaking through? You’ve been humpin’ and bumpin’ on the daily!”

“I’ve been using pads”

“Pads?”

“Menstrual pads”

Clint went still, and Bucky could feel him start to shudder against him.

Bucky frowned. “Are you _laughing?_ ”

“I’m not” Clint said in a high and choked voice.

“You are!”

“I’m really trying not to” he wheezed.

“Shut up!” Bucky snapped, “They work better than bandages!”

And it was true! It was top quality material, flexible and discreet. The shopkeep had been right, they _were_ leak-proof and dependable, even during athletic activities. He didn’t see why it had to be so funny.

“Yeah, it’s just… on your _shoulder?_ You’ve been slapping them onto your _shoulder?_ ” Clint choked out on another wheeze.

“Where else would I put them?”

That finally broke Clint, and he guffawed, which turned into a braying laugh as he tried and failed to stop. Bucky grumbled under his breath, taking over the reigns while Clint double-over onto the horse’s neck, making it whiny irritably.

Though he wanted to smack Clint, he was glad his friend hadn’t rejected him. Curses were nasty, and they brokered fear and disgust in others; but Clint was a good guy.

Even if he was being an asshole at the moment.

* * *

A pair of eyes watched the two from within the trees, catching snippets of their conversation.

The Winter Soldier carried a curse mark, eh? Interesting. Very interesting.

A presence approached from the underbrush, coming closer- the ranger’s familiar. It was making it particularly hard to follow its master unnoticed, but who didn’t like a good challenge?

The pair of eyes disappeared again.

* * *

Four more days of travel and they arrived at Toronto. In those four days, Clint had solidified the fact that Bucky’s curse didn’t bother him when he continued the beneficial activities of their friendship, knowing full well what was happening under Bucky’s shoulder brace every time he did.

He’d even gone so far to offer to pull the horse over if Bucky needed to rub one out, to which Bucky had lightly, but firmly, smacked him for. He wasn’t _that_ insatiable, he could hold it together until they camped for the night. Usually.

Clint was more tense once they got into the city, but he led them through the streets like he was familiar with them anyway, until they came upon a small temple sequestered between two grimy buildings. The title above the door marked it as _The Sanctum of the Monastery_ , which… didn’t make sense. It might as well be called _The Temple of the Church_.

Bucky looked at it skeptically. “This is where your mage friend is?” he asked, doubting the legitimacy of this _sanctum_.

“Yeah, but he’s not technically a mage, he’s more mage-adjacent. You’ll see” Clint said, leading them through the entrance.

Inside was what Bucky would describe as the most generic church he’d ever seen. The walls were plain and lit with shitty torches, and there was no iconography hinting at what deity this place even worshiped. There were four rows of pews lined on either side of the room, all facing…

Bucky stopped. That was an upside-down chandelier. The candles were placed on the underside to make it look vaguely- religious?

But it was a chandelier.

He resigned himself to the fact that Clint had brought him to the laziest false temple he’d ever seen. It was shamefully obvious, and Bucky would be embarrassed to be here if the place weren’t completely empty.

Clint took them to the back where there was a metal door with no handle. He knocked once, and after a few minutes, a tiny window about head-height slid open.

“ _In the dead of winter, a dedicated gardener lies within_ ” a voice whispered from the other side.

“ _She sows_ _her_ _seed and dies back_ ” Clint answered quietly.

The door opened, and a shorter man greeted them. “Clint? Holy shit, it’s been an age!” the man said.

“Tony! You got taller!” Clint exclaimed, opening his arms for a hug, and the two embraced enthusiastically. They exchanged pleasantries as they went inside, and Bucky followed behind, letting the door slam behind him.

“What are you doing here? Last I heard you’d joined a circus”

“Oh, yeah, kinda forgot about that” Clint said, scratching his chin. “Was with them for two years maybe, then got trapped in the feywilds for twenty more. Been a freelancing with the ranger’s guild since”

Tony looked confused, “But you only left seven years ago?”

Clint nodded, “Yeah man, time in the feywilds is weird. You walk a thousand miles and an hour passes, you nap and a year goes by”

“That’s fascinating”

“It’s bullshit”

Tony laughed, taking them to a sitting area that looked like a waiting room.

“So what brings you back? Just visiting?”

“I actually needed servicing; got some heat on my back, but I have important business that has me traveling. You guys still do shrouds?”

“Yeah, Matt’s been doing most of them, want me to take you?”

“He still haunting the tomb?” Clint asked wryly. Tony laughed while he nodded in confirmation.

“Then I’m good. I still know my way around the place. But hey, can I ask for a favour?”

“Name it”

“My friend Bucky here,” he clapped Bucky on the shoulder, “has a nasty curse on him. Think you could take a look?”

Tony frowned. “I’m not really a curse kinda guy, but I know some legit mages that can take a look?”

“No mage’ll touch him, and trust me when I tell you he’s a unique case. You’re gonna love it” Clint smiled wide, and Tony finally looked at Bucky, eyeing him up and down.

“Y’aright, I’ll take a look. No promises though” he warned, pointing at Clint.

“Honestly, I appreciate you looking at it at all” Bucky said, trying to smile gratefully to hide his dubious suspicions of the man.

Clint smiled, giving Bucky’s shoulder a last reassuring squeeze before letting go. “I’ll just leave you two to go at it” he said, then departed down a side corridor without a goodbye.

Tony looked over Bucky quizzically for a second, then turned sharply in the opposite direction, “Don’t touch anything” he called as he moved, and Bucky hurried to follow.

* * *

A pair of eyes watched the two enter the fake church. They were nearing the ports, and a decision needed to be made.

Follow them onto their boat and try to stay hidden, or strike now when they weren’t expecting it?

…

This was an easy decision.

The ranger wouldn’t see it coming, and with any luck, the Winter Soldier might be caught off-guard too.

* * *

Steve had been swimming in the open ocean for days now, and he was nearing the city of Asgard, having navigated to it easily enough. It wasn’t much of a challenge, if one knew how to do it.

He’d been keeping close to the surface to navigate by star, but seeing the glow of the city below, he started his descent, until he was floating at the gates. A giant crab stood atop the entryway and regarded him.

“ _Purpose of visit?_ ” it asked in his mind.

“ _I come seeking answers_ ” Steve replied, and held out the metal emblem he’d clipped to his belt.

The crab’s eye stalks leaned in to look. “ _‘Kay_ ” it said agreeably and snapped it’s claws. A moment later the gates opened, and Steve swam past.

The city was impressive, shinning tall and gold with orbs of white lights floating in a grid-like pattern to illuminate the streets. People went about their business, though they all sported some kind of aquatic feature, varying from fish tails to octopus legs to simple scaling on their otherwise humanoid feet. They had the same air as the common folk of the surface, although these ones only gave curious glances at his sygil instead of the venerated or fearful he was used to.

Steve followed the signs that helpfully read “ _V_ _isitor_ _I_ _nformation_ ”, coming to a booth manned by a bored teen reading from a book.

“ _Welcome to Asgard, home of wonders and knowledge, how may I help you today?_ ” he asked in an even more bored tone, not looking up.

Steve pulled out the emblem. “ _I’m looking for information on this symbol_ ”

The teen barely glanced at it. “ _Is this for arcane ritual or research reasons?_ ”

“ _Research_ ”

He pulled out a cuttlefish from beneath the desk, which sat happily in his hand. “ _Please follow this to the archivist’s tower where you’ll be referred to a specialist. Is there anything else I can help you with today?_ ”

“ _No, thank you_ ” Steve said as the cuttlefish swam to him smoothly.

“ _You’re welcome. Please enjoy your stay in Asgard_ ” the teen finished with all the enthusiasm of reading from a forced script.

Steve curiously watched as the cuttlefish slowly swam away, only to pause when Steve didn’t follow. He smiled at the little thing, endeared by its small waving tentacles. He set off after it, and it continued its movement deeper into the city, presumably leading him towards the archivist’s tower.

* * *

Clint walked down the familiar halls of the _The Sanctum of the Monastery_ , where he’d made his transition from late-teen to adult. The place was a family-owned shop- except by ‘family-owned’ he meant established by runaways, and by ‘shop’ he meant blackmarket outlet behind a church front.

Oh, the semi-exciting memories he had here. He used to mix the potion reagents in the room over there, and two left turns would’ve taken him to his old sleeping quarter. He stayed on his path though, making his way to the basement.

He grabbed a torch from the wall and went down the steps into the darkened room below. The walls were lined with shelves holding a variety of things; bone fragments and metal scraps and dried wood, anything small enough to be carried in a pocket. All the items were engraved with fine writing and symbols, the familiar scripture of Matt’s work.

Speaking of the man, Clint found him in the same corner he remembered, working to engrave a very fine spell onto a tooth.

“Hey Clint, it’s been a while” Matt greeted without looking up.

“Hey Matt, good to see you too”

“Funny” he deadpanned.

Clint winced, he hadn’t meant it like that.

“I know you didn’t mean it like that” Matt said.

“You reading minds now?” Clint asked with a smile.

“I’m branching out”

Clint froze. Did he actually…?

“That was a joke” Matt chuckled when Clint was quiet for too long. He put his tools down and turned around, facing Clint without seeing him. His eyes were a solid red across the cornea, the result of a scrying accident peering into some devil’s realm.

“What brings you around? I know its not to visit” he said, though not unkindly. Still, Clint made a pained face. It _had_ been a while, and these men had been like brothers to him…

Okay, maybe more like good friends, but still, they had some history, and he hadn’t seen them in _years_. But he’d said his goodbyes to them properly before he’d left, and they’d known he might not come back, free spirit as he was.

“You got me” he admitted. “I’m actually here for a shroud- if you still do those”

Matt held his arms out to indicate the shelves. “What do you think I do all day?” he asked rhetorically, then he leaned back. “What kind of shroud are we talking here?”

“Something to keep the Rat King off me. Rat Queen too, if you can swing it”

Matt whistled. “What kind of shit did you get into?”

“You don’t wanna know, man”

Matt tutted at that. “Fair enough” He got up and felt along the shelves until he picked a thick, dried root.

Clint identified the root and made an unimpressed noise. “Ginger root? Seriously? I can get that at the market four blocks from here”

“Exactly, so it’ll cost you practically nothing for the base material. Add that to my markup and you’re getting a good price”

“Wait, you’re charging me full price?! What happened to the family discount?”

“The discount is that I’m not upselling you to the pure silver totem”

“Aw, come on man” Clint whined.

“Are you devaluing my labour? Not gonna support your local enchanter?” Matt asked with false hurt.

Clint grumbled but relented. Matt was incredibly skilled at runic enchantments, enough to make a hundred times the coin he did, but his prices were adjusted to be affordable to those who couldn’t normally pay for it. Or, if the customer was particularly wealthy, marked _up_. Matt could be slick when he wanted.

Clint handed over the coin. It was very affordable, he had to begrudgingly admit. He sat in an empty chair while Matt started his carving.

“So what’ve you been up to all these years?” Matt asked as he worked.

Clint rolled his neck and sighed. He didn’t particularly want to hash out the past seven-slash-twenty-slash-who-knew-how-many years he’d been away. “How about you tell me what _you’ve_ been up to since I last saw you?”

Matt was quiet for a second.

“Well, you know that cobbler you used to see? She’d come around every week asking for you, and Tony had the bright idea to tell her you’d died, and that seemed to inspire her to quit and become an adventurer”

“No shit?”

“No shit, but see, she was the top cobbler in the whole city, and there was a sort of power vacuum after she left. We had a bit of a shoe gang-war for a while-”

“Oh, go take a piss, there _was not_ ”

Matt put his tools down to put one hand on his heart and one in the air, palm out. “Swear to Baphomet it’s true. There were two factions, and one of them turned out to be a cult. Streets were a war zone of cobblers, cultists, and heroes”

Clint hissed through his teeth. Gods, but he was glad he stopped living in cities.

“Yeah, it was pretty hectic, but we got a lot of business for enchanted shutters-”

“Hang on, hang on- backup” Clint interrupted, leaning an elbow on the table. “So Louise was the head of a cobbler gang?”

* * *

Bucky sat up on an examination table, shirtless, while Tony poked at his bared shoulder with a metal stick.

“So you say this thing bleeds when you orgasm?” he asked again.

“Yes”

“And it started four months ago?”

“Yes”

“And there’s nothing you can think of that caused it? You didn’t offend any type of caster?”

“My _existence_ offends casters”

“Anti-mage, right” Tony nodded, taking out a notepad and scribbling something down.

“What kind of practitioner are you again?”

“Pseudo-alchemist” he answered offhandedly.

“What’s that mean?” Bucky asked.

“It’s like an alchemist, but I’m not recognized by the association”

Oh, he was one of _those_. The bar to be an alchemist was laughably low; you only had to A) not be complete shit at it, and B) not be a crazy scientist. Of the two of those, Bucky would hazard Tony was the later, based on the crazy shit all over the workshop he was in. The associating didn’t like to affiliate itself with villainous types, and they rejected mad experimenters on the regular. Independence alchemists were chaotic at best.

Bucky only stayed seated because he was both desperate and trusted Clint not to send him to his doom.

Tony had poked and prodded the spot on his shoulder, which was a simple black mark in the shape of a circle. He held various strange devices over it and recorded whatever output he got from them. At one point Bucky swore it had been nothing more than a twig Tony had held, and he had no idea what the man was getting from it.

Each test put another frown on Tony’s face, and he was muttering more and more until he sighed in defeat.

“Alright, I’m not getting anything from this. I’m gonna have to see it in action”

Bucky cocked a brow. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I got something perfect for this” he said, walking into a closet and rooting around.

“I don’t really need anything for that” He ran his eyes over Tony’s ass as the man bent down. “And you know, if you wanna get hands on…” he said suggestively.

“Aha!!” he exclaimed, not seeming to have heard Bucky’s invitation. He came back with large a jar containing something bright purple. “I had to tuck this in the back or I’d never stop using it” he said, opening the lid.

Bucky eyed the substance inside. “What is it?”

“I call it sex goo”

Bucky leveled Tony with a flat look. “Sex goo?”

“Yeah”

“You want me to orgasm… with sex goo? Whatever that is”

“It’s goo that makes you orgasm, I thought the name made that kind of obvious” Tony said, straight-faced and serious.

“Again, I don’t need help with that” Bucky said slowly.

Tony shifted his stance, looking at Bucky like he was an idiot. “Look, I don’t know how long this’ll take, so might need you to orgasm for a few hours”

Bucky’s dick twitched at that sentence, but then his eyes fell to the goo, and his interest flagged.

“I’m not sticking my dick in a jar” he said resolutely.

“Oh, you don’t have to” Tony said, then he flipped the jar upside down next to where Bucky sat. Bucky hastily stood to get away from the incoming mess.

Except there was no mess, because the goo stayed stuck to the bottom of the jar. Then, with a loud suctioning squelch, it slowly slid out like a canned jelly, until it plopped on the table with a wet _thwack_ and jiggled. The goo still held the shape of the jar it had been in.

Bucky looked at it, unimpressed, then shifted his gaze to Tony, equally unimpressed with the man. “You want me to stick my dick in _that_?”

“Well, it’s more like letting it stick itself to _you_ ” Tony explained, just as the goo jiggled of its own volition, shifting into a more blob-like form.

Bucky’s lips curled back in disgust, and he took another step back. “Is that an _ooze_?”

“Yeah, an offshoot of one that I made” Tony confirmed proudly.

“You mean like the ones that dissolve flesh?”

“Exactly like one of those, except for sex. And minus the flesh dissolving”

Bucky pinched his brow, letting out a breath on a three-count. “So its alive?”

“Eh, about as much as any other amoeba. I think of it more as a lotion that can move” Tony said casually.

Bucky stared at him then asked, incredulously, “ _Why?_ ”

“Why not?”

Oh yeah, he was one of _those_ alchemists.

Bucky pinched his brow again, reminding himself that he needed the curse gone, and that Clint trusted this guy. Clint wouldn’t send him to his death. He repeated that a few more times in his head.

“Will it melt my dick off, or otherwise do something harmful to my genitals?” he asked after a pause.

Tony thought about it, and the fact that he had to wasn’t reassuring. “Well, I’ve used it on myself for four hours-” Bucky choked at that, “and nothing bad happened. Not sure about more than four, but it shouldn’t take that long for my exam”

Bucky stared at him, and Tony stared back, a patiently expectant look on his face. Maintaining eye contact, Bucky started undoing his belt.

He was gonna fuck an ooze. This was his life now.

* * *

It had taken a little under an hour, but Matt finished his shroud in record time. Now Clint had an enchanted ginger root hanging from his neck that was shielding him from the Rat King’s ire, and he could breathe easy. Poor Lucky was patrolling around the city for rats, nervous on Clint’s behalf, and now he could relax too.

He’d left Matt with a heartfelt goodbye and no promise to return. Matt took it in stride, smiling sadly, but also with acceptance.

As he got closer to Tony’s lab, the sound of screaming became noticeable, and Clint doubled his pace. What was Tony subjecting Bucky to?

_Oh shit,_ _I didn’t tell him_ _no dissections_ , Clint realized. He started sprinting.

“Tony! Tell me you’re not dissec-” he started to yell as he entered, but fell quiet at the sight he saw.

Tony was at Bucky’s shoulder, running a glass wand over the mark and recording something in his notes, consulting one of the five books he had opened around him. The spot on Bucky’s shoulder was bleeding like he was sweating the stuff, and Tony had set some towels underneath to soak the mess. Bucky, meanwhile, was lying on the table. But he wasn’t lying still.

Bucky was naked, yelling incoherently as he writhed and twisted and arched, his eyes roving in their sockets. His skin glistened with sweat, and his muscles shifted as he spasmed. His arms gripped the edges of the table, constantly readjusting his handholds as he moved. His left arm was secured to the table with straps, but the rest of him convulsed freely on the smooth surface made damp with sweat.

What really had Clint frozen, though, was the purple blob on Bucky’s crotch. It was slightly transparent, and Clint could see the outline of Bucky’s hard length encases within as he bucked his hips, making the stuff quake and jiggle, but somehow not throwing it off.

And then Clint saw the thing’s surface ripple, and _hoo boy_ , that was an ooze. That was one-hundred-percent an ooze; those things that were made of acid and ate literally anything that it could dissolve.

And Bucky had it on his cock.

“Is everything… alright in here?” he asked over Bucky’s yells, coming to stand beside Tony.

“Yeah, s’all good” he said distractedly, writing in his notes.

“Cool, cool. And, uh, what’s that on Bucky’s crotch?”

“Sex goo” he answered, like it was obvious.

“Ah, gotcha” Clint nodded. Not that he knew what that was, but he could make a guess by the name. Bucky seemed to be enjoying it at least.

“Clint!” Bucky gasped, looking at him with unfocused eyes.

“Yeah buddy, I’m here. You doing alright?” Clint asked with concern.

“It just, it keeps- it keeps going, _oh fuck_ , it keeps going!” he panted through his shouts and gasps. He arched off the table again, and Clint swallowed as he watched Bucky’s abs pull tight under his sweat-shined skin.

“Yeah, it looks, uh, intense” Clint observed.

“Fuck, it’s so- _fuck!_ ” he shouted, turning incoherent again. His leg kicked out into the air, and the table shuddered with the force of it.

Bucky’s free hand shot out and grabbed hold of Clint’s belt. He yanked Clint right up to the table, his groin level with Bucky’s face, and Clint felt his own cock twitch at the sight of it. Bucky looked up at him with desperate, pleading eyes.

“ _Fuck me_ ” he whined, and Clint swallowed again.

“Uh...” he said dumbly, then looked at Tony hesitantly.

“Don’t mind me” Tony said, eyes never straying from either Bucky’s mark or his notes.

“Fuck my mouth, or, or rub your cock on my stomach, or- _fuck_ , just _touch me, please!_ ” he begged, thrusting his hips off the table while his legs scrabbled for purchase they couldn’t find.

Bucky was clearly not fully there, and Clint wasn’t going to initiate anything- but he’d do his best to keep Bucky comfortable. “Alright, but I’m just gonna pet you some, okay?”

“ _Yes! Anything!_ _E_ _verything!_ ” Bucky gasped, shuddering on the table.

“Alright, I’m gonna stay right up here with you, I gotcha” Clint reassured as he pulled up a chair, sitting close and throwing an arm across Bucky’s chest to hold him steady. Bucky exhaled harshly at the contact, shaking the table with how hard he jerked. Clint rant his other hand through Bucky’s hair, gently massaging his scalp, and Bucky whimpered, trying to throw his head back into the touch while arching into the contact on his chest.

Clint didn’t know how much longer they stayed like that, feeling Bucky’s muscles shift under his arm- feel his full-body shudders that came frequently between his yelling and whimpers. He watched as Bucky tried to fuck into the ooze on his cock, lifting his whole pelvis off the table as if that could get his dick any further into the thing that already encompassed him wholly. Clint found himself starring at it sometimes, seeing Bucky’s cock pulse and spurt, only for the spunk to dissolve instantly in the goo.

The goo itself was especially weird to watch. It stayed on Bucky no matter how hard he bucked, and the only movement he spotted from it was the occasional shudder and ripple along its surface, which gave Clint a chill. He’d seen a wild ooze eat a whole elk once- and when you saw an elk get dissolved before your eyes, you developed a healthy fear of the amorphous things. Yet he had trouble looking away. It was strangely entrancing.

When he did take his eyes off the thing, though, it was to the wholly different spectacle that was Bucky, who’d gone wild with the continuous orgasm he was experiencing. It left Clint half-hard, but his arousal was tempered by the sight of the blood that kept leaking from his friend’s shoulder, and the steady worry he was developing as Bucky’s actions slowed little by little the longer it went on. How much more could Bucky take?

If Tony was still the curious alchemist he was, then he’d take a while to notice anything wrong with his study subject, and by then it would be too late- so Clint kept close tabs on Bucky’s energy, ready to step in on his account the moment things went too far.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to- Tony put his notes down and declared he was done.

“Great, can you get that thing off of him now?” Clint asked urgently. Bucky had started crying, and his shouts had started to weaken. Not to mention the towels Tony had put down were now completely soaked in blood, and Clint didn’t like that at all.

“Yeah, just gimme a sec, I gotta find that jar” he muttered, sifting through the mess of notes and items he’d piled around him until he came up with it.

As soon as he brought the jar close, the ooze shivered and slid off Bucky, rippling its way to the floor. It made a wet plopping noise as it landed, then started to slither away hastily- _very_ hastily. Clint was surprised by the speed it was pulling.

“Oh no you don’t!” Tony shouted, chasing after it with the jar.

Clint left Tony to it, focusing instead on Bucky who’d collapsed on the table, eyes closed and panting heavily.

“You doing okay?” Clint asked in concern, hand gripping Bucky’s bicep.

“ _Hnn selv fint_ ” Bucky garbled, opening his eyes only halfway. His arm flopped around until he managed to make a weak thumbs-up, then dropped it back to the table. Clint smiled at him, “Alright man, you take a minute, I’ll be here”

“ _Hrrf_ ” Bucky replied, closing his eyes again. Clint unbuckled Bucky’s arm while he caught his breath.

There was a loud crash, and Clint looked up just in time to see Tony triumphantly stand with the jar now filled with the ooze. “Gotcha!”

“Well that doesn’t look good” a husky voice said at Clint’s ear, and he nearly fell over at the sudden appearance of a woman who hadn’t been there a second ago. She was busy examining the mark on Bucky’s shoulder.

“I’ll be with you in just a minute!” Tony called as he wrestled the lid back on the jar, the ooze trying to push it’s way out.

“Don’t mind me, I’m with these two” she said.

“You are?” Clint asked dubiously.

“I’ve been traveling with you since Doggate, I’d like to think so” She muttered, leaning down to get a closer look at Bucky’s mark.

That gave Clint pause. She’d been _following_ them? Since the beginning? Lucky hadn’t mentioned seeing her, and she was fairly notable. She was another winter elf, with deep red hair that’d be easy to spot in a crowd. He didn’t recall seeing her at any of their stops.

“Aw, so tha’ wuz you?” Bucky slurred, cracking an eye open weakly.

“I was wondering if you’d caught on” she smiled.

“Wait, what?” Clint asked, looking between the two.

“Why’s you- _nng_ , wait, gimme a minute” Bucky groaned, sitting up and resting his elbows on his knees while his breathing evened out.

“Uh, so you were following us?” Clint asked instead.

“I’m following _you_ , but when I saw who you were traveling with, I figured I better just come out and declare myself before this one tried to kill me” she said, motioning to Bucky.

“I wouldn’t’a killed you” Bucky muttered. He swayed a little where he sat, and Clint reached a hand out to steady him.

“You would’ve tried”

Bucky didn’t respond to that. Clint was lost. “I’m sorry, who are you?” he asked.

“Call me Natasha. I’m with the collections department of the harlot’s guild. They sent me to escort you _discreetly_ , but I realized that wouldn’t be possible with the Winter Soldier in your detail”  
  
“Don’t call me that, I’m _retired_ ” Bucky grumbled, sounding more like himself.

“Oh, I’m sorry, _Bucky_ ” she teased, but there was something biting in her tone.

“Damn right” Bucky said.

Clint, meanwhile, was sweating nervously. “Uh, can I ask why the guild sent a collection agent? I’m on my way to repeal, I thought I had until then?”

“Oh, I’m just here to make sure you show up, or kill you if you try to run off” she said matter-of-factly.  
  
Clint swallowed down the lump in his throat. “Cool” he choked  
  
“Working for the harlot’s guild now?” Bucky asked, sitting up more confidently and stretching out his limbs.

She shrugged. “Pays better than the assassin’s guild, and the work’s more interesting. The people I’m sent to kill actually _know_ I’m coming, makes it more challenging” she grinned wolfishly.

“Do you still go by the Black Widow then?” Bucky asked, and Clint’s breath froze in his lungs. The guild sent the _Black Widow_ to escort him?

“Be a shame to waste the title otherwise”

“So, uh, how do you two know each other?” Clint asked awkwardly. Maybe Bucky could garner him some good will?

“We’re married” Natasha answered.

“We’re _not_ ” Bucky said gruffly.

“I’m legally your wife”

“We agreed it didn’t count”

“ _You_ said that, _I_ never agreed to it”

Clint looked at Bucky in confusion. “Aren’t you gay?”

“I am” he replied sourly.

“Imagine my surprise on our wedding night” Natasha added with a curled smile.

Bucky shot her a deathly glare, and it looked like he was going to say something rude, but before it could go further, Tony interrupted.

“Okay!” he clapped, “Sex goo is stored away, and I’ve done all I can to figure out what your mark’s about” Tony pulled up his notepad and flipped back a few pages. “You want them to hear this too?” he asked Bucky, pointing between Clint and Natasha.

Bucky shrugged, “Yeah, Clint’ll just hear it again from me, and Natasha’s gonna fucking eavesdrop anyway”

Natasha didn’t deny it.

“Alright, so I can confidently say that what you’ve got is _not_ a curse. It falls completely outside of all malediction magic” he started. “And try not to freak out, but it looks like you’ve got some kind of connection with a _very_ powerful being. Cosmically powerful, and its got your soul entwined with it” Tony said.

“Oh yeah, that’s Steve” Bucky nodded.

That gave Tony pause. “You know about it?”

“Yeah, he’s my husband”

“Oh, our _legal documents_ don’t count, but your vows of love under the moon do?” Natasha asked, and Bucky shot her another death-glare.

“And you’re aware of the magnitude of his power?” Tony asked in disbelief, ignoring Natasha’s comment.

“Yeah, he’s a phoenix” Bucky said offhandedly, turning away from Natasha.

Tony made a choking sound. “You’re bound to a _pho_ _e_ _nix?_ A cosmic entity of _infinite power?_ Eternal life, destructive death, reborn ad infinitum? That kind of phoenix?” Tony asked, bewildered at the notion.

“That’s the bastard” Bucky confirmed, reaching to the floor for his clothes.

“ _How?_ ” Tony asked.

“We’re not really sure” Bucky explained while he put his clothes back on. “We got married under an oath moon,” Natasha scoffed at that, but Bucky kept going, “which also happened to be a blood moon, and was also on the night of a witch’s eclipse- completely unplanned, by the way. Then we consummated in a purity pool-”

As Bucky summarized his ridiculous wedding night, Tony looked to be having some kind of episode with how he was blinking. Clint had heard this story before, and he sat back unfazed.

“-and I’m pissed off, so I go with him to give these witches a piece of my mind, and then- get this- they order the undead unicorn to _kill_ Steve. And of course the idiot didn’t put his armor on, so I try to stop it, get _stabbed_ by its horn, then it runs past me and it gets Steve- so now he’s got a unicorn horn soaked in my blood piercing his heart,” Tony made a choked noise, “and he dies, obviously” Bucky said casually, moving through the story.

Clint was no stranger to a convoluted series of events, but Bucky’s wedding night really took the cake.

“-and then the witches yell some kind of soul-curse at us as they died- and ever since then, we could feel whenever the other’s having sex. We’re pretty sure at least one of those things caused the connection” Bucky finished, fully dressed now.

Tony stood agape at the explanation. There were a whole host of things that could’ve caused Bucky’s soul bond, but Clint personally thought it was the sex above a succubus grave that did it- though the unicorn horn was a strong contender for second likely.

“Okay, well, uh…” Tony seemed at a loss for words.

“Better than our wedding night” Natasha remarked dryly.

“Fuck off” Bucky griped.

“So what’s the word on the not-curse mark?” Clint asked, trying to stay on topic.

Tony blinked. “Right, the mark. Uh, so, it’s some kind of an anchor, and as far as I can tell. Every time you orgasm it pulls on your soul through the- well, the soul connection. That’s what’s causing the stigmata” Tony said, tapping Bucky’s bloody shoulder.

“How do I get rid of it?” Bucky asked.

Tony raised his palms in an _I don’t know_ gesture. “I just told you everything I know. My best guess is that if you cut the tie to your, uh, husband, the mark should go away too. Or, you know, _amputate_ ” he said, miming chopping off his arm from the shoulder.

Bucky frowned, scratching his neck. “Not gonna lie, that’s not really what I wanted to hear”

Tony gave him a sympathetic smile, “Yeah, sorry- I’m not a magic practitioner”

“Hey, at least you found out its not a curse, and it’s tied to my soul-bond thing. That’s more than I knew this morning” Bucky said, smiling weakly.

“That’s the spirit” Clint said, patting Bucky’s shoulder.

“I do have some questions about this soul-bond though, because it sounds _really_ interesting” Tony said.

“Yeah man, you just did more for me than any mage would, I’ll answer whatever” Bucky agreed.

“Okay, so how much of your experience does your husband feel, and how strongly? You’ve been having an orgasm for the past two hours- what would he have felt on his end?” Tony questioned, eyes alight in curiosity.

Bucky’s eyes grew wide as his smile disappeared, realization striking him. “Oh, _shit_. Shit shit shit. I hope he wasn’t doing anything important”

* * *

_One hour ago._

“ _Syr Paladin, are you alright?_ ” Thor, champion of Asgard, asked from the head of the feasting table. The entirety of the Asgard royals were seated around him, watching Steve.

“ _Yes, I’m fine_ ” Steve said rigidly, gripping his fork so tightly that it creaked. His smile was brittle and stapled to his face by sheer force of will. “ _This meal just reminds me of my husband-_ ” his fork bent in half, “ _and how much I look forward to seeing him when my quest is over_ ”


	5. Chapter 5

Steve had gone to the archivist, who’d taken one look at the emblem and promptly sent him to the citadel to consult with their champion.

He’d been greeted enthusiastically, and invited to dine with them before discussing the emblem and its meaning. The supper had been… stressing, thanks to Bucky, but he’d gotten through it, and now that it was over- both the meal and whatever the fuck his husband had been on- he was hoping his answers would come swiftly.

Steve followed Thor out of the grand dining hall. They went to a private library, shelves of books reaching all the way to the ceiling. The lighting was a pleasant mimicry of sunlight, and the two of them floated at a desk, chairs unnecessary in the environment.

Steve placed the emblem on the table between them and waited for Thor to gather his thoughts. The Asgard champion picked it up and looked at it unhappily, the corner of his mouth turned down. He slid the emblem back to Steve and sighed.

“ _Unfortunately, I do recognize this symbol”_ Steve tried not to perk up too much at that, letting Thor explain uninterrupted. _“_ _In short, this is a sign of the Father of Monsters, also called Hydra- with a capital H, not those puny modern hydras you see everywhere”_ he said, waving an arm in the general direction of the window that overlooked the city. _“He was banished long ago to a prison realm,_ _for he_ _sought_ _to destroy everything_ _that is_ _,_ _and_ _now he_ _is_ _trying to return. Lots of cultists_ _have been_ _trying to summon him_ _lately_ _,_ _it is_ _causing an influx of other monsters everywhere”_

He gestured behind him to a collection of shelves. _“_ _We have a section specifically dedicated to information on him in this library, you_ _are_ _welcome to read through all of it_ ”

Steve floated quietly, then gently took Thor’s hand in his, looking him in the eye. “ _I’ve spent the last two years trying to find out what these cultists are worshiping, and you’re the first person to give me a clear and concise answer._ Thank you” Steve said with a waver in his voice. He wanted to cry, this was quite literally everything he’d been searching for, all laid out for him cleanly.

“ _Oh, yes, I’ve been there”_ Thor said with exasperation in his voice. _“Vague prophecies and cryptic clues, or_ worse _, an endless speech of useless filler information. I_ _find it_ _all so needlessly complex._ _W_ _hy can you_ _not_ _just tell me the information I’m looking for?_ ”

“ _Yes, it’s_ awful _!”_ Steve jumped to agree. _“I had to see three different augurs just to be pointed to an abandoned temple with the word_ Father _as the only thing written in it!_ _What was I supposed to do with that? I can’_ _t_ _ask sages about a ‘Father’, I’ll be given a ten hour lecture_ _listing_ _every paternal figure in myth!_ ”

Thor nodded in understanding, “ _I was an adventurer once, and still, sometimes I must go on quests for the good of my people._ _I_ _t_ _is_ _always the_ _same; get a_ _n obscure_ _hint from the seer, look in the library for a riddle that leads to some ruins, find some half-destroyed clues, go back to the seer, and so forth. Oh, and the fetch quests!_ ”

“ _Don’t even get me_ started _on fetch quests_ ” Steve said, but he very badly wanted to vent about it. If he had to find one more ‘rare’ potion ingredient for a witch so he could get a necklace to return to the duchess in order to get a party invitation for the mage to get a translation for a love note-

He had to stop, because that particular quest had yielded twenty-seven layers of fetches.

They looked at each other and laughed. Thor _got it_. He’d done Steve a huge kindness by being so frank about the information Steve was looking for. Why couldn’t everyone just tell it to him straight like this? It would save him so much time on quests.

Their laughter died down naturally, but their hands remained clasped- had been ever since Steve took Thor’s hands in his. Now Thor looked from their joined hands back into Steve’s eyes and smiled.

“ _I’ve been doing much research about Hydra myself as of late; there_ _are_ _just as many cultists in the ocean as there are on_ _the_ _land,_ _I hear_ _. Perhaps we could go to my room and discuss it more?_ ”

Steve smiled back at the Asgardian champion. He’d been fairly celibate lately- even for him- but Thor caught his interest like no one had for a while.

Why not?

“ _Yes, I’d love to hear what you’ve learned. You’ll be much more interesting that any text, I bet_ ” he said.

Thor’s eyes lit up as he grinned.

* * *

Steve stared down at Thor with a frown. “ _Admittedly, I_ _didn’t think_ _this through_ ”

“ _Do not fret, Syr Paladin, this is nothing new to me. My people have many variet_ _ies_ _of unique and strange mutations._ _S_ _ome shed their sex entirely and regrow something new- sometimes in a completely different spot._ _Y_ _ou_ _a_ _re hardly the first lover I’ve bedded with this issue_ ” he said while he slowly tapped along Steve’s tail where his knees would be.

“ _I had a_ _prick_ _before_ _changing_ _, you’d think I’d know where it went_ ” Steve said, frowning more.

“ _Polymorphs_ _can be tricky, but we’ll find_ _your genitals, worry not_ ” Thor said confidently, examining a section of Steve’s scales closely.

“ _Maybe we could make out more? Enough foreplay might arouse_ _something_ ” Steve suggested.

“ _You’d be surprised how rarely that works_ ” Thor said, running his fingernail under a scale, and Steve gasped.

“ _Oh! That’s something_ ” he breathed, twisting the end on his tail in the sheets.

“ _A-ha! Like I said,_ _tis not_ _my first time_ ” Thor smiled proudly, then ran two of his fingers along the area, and Steve moaned softly as a warm pleasure roiled in… he supposed where his ankles would be? Right now it was a third of the way down his tail.

He watched the scales there slowly flare open as Thor continued to stroke, revealing a dark-blue slit underneath. He was fascinated as Thor ran two fingers lightly along the entrance, and he shivered, closing his eyes. That felt _good_.

“ _May I?_ ” Thor asked.

“ _Yeah, just- go slow. This is new to me_ ”

“ _Of course_ ” he said gently, and then swirled his fingers at the entrance, applying more pressure and making Steve moan again. His tail twisted and writhed, wrapping itself around Thor’s torso, though he didn’t seem to mind. Thor continued to swirl his fingers, switching between light and hard pressure, until Steve was a moaning mess from that alone. He had one hand stretched back to grip the headboard and the other fisting the sheets.

Then Thor experimented with running the pad of his thumb slowly between the thin skin, pushing lightly as he slowly opened Steve by degree. Steve gasped at the feel of it, the warmth that made him want to push up against Thor’s hand for more. He didn’t usually enjoying being penetrated, but this was different- this new part of his body made it feel _so good_.

Steve was on the verge of asking for more when Thor started slowly pushing a single finger in. There was a brief and mild burn as something in him stretched, and then suddenly Thor’s finger was _inside_ him.

“ _Fuck_ ” Steve said airily, turning his head into the pillow. His tail tightened around Thor, pulling the man closer to his body. The finger inside him slowly pulled out, then back in, experimentally thrusting at a slow pace. It sent a pool of pleasure up his tail, and he moaned again. It felt so strange and new and _good_.

Thor crooked his finger, and it sent a jolt of something hot up Steve’s spine. He jerked at the motion, crying out in pleasure, and Thor repeated the action with a wicked smile.

As he enjoyed the sensation of this new pleasure, Steve could feel the familiar pressure of someone starting to suck his cock- an organ he definitely did not have right now.

It seemed Bucky was enjoying this too, and was taking the chance to join in. He hoped he was somewhere inconvenient, that asshole. Steve had stopped jerking off these past few months because Bucky was practically been doing it _for_ him, _m_ _ultiple times a day_. Steve was having so many vicarious orgasms that he’d found himself disinterested in causing one of his own- and if he were being honest, he may have also been holding off a little out of spite, hoping Bucky might catch the hint.

But where he wasn’t hurting for pleasure, it had been a while since he felt any kind of intimacy, and Thor had hit all the right buttons for companionship beyond a physical level.

His thoughts were cut-off as Thor changed the angle of his thrusting at the same time he brought his thumb to rub at the top of his slit. Steve’s muscles pulled tight as he arched off the bed.

“ _Oh fuck, do that again. Right there!_ ” Steve cried, twisting in the sheets. Thor complied, thrusting into him steadily, angling his finger to hit _that spot_ , over and over. He kept rubbing his thumb along the outside, and he varied his thrusts, sometimes stopping to just hold down on _that spot_ until Steve was gasping, sometimes pulling his finger out to circle his entrance again. All the while the dual-pleasure of Bucky cock being sucked mixing with the sensation to create something new yet familiar.

Steve’s breaths came out faster and faster, until he came with a cry, feeling himself spasm internally around Thor’s finger, which kept _thrusting_ , milking his orgasm as the pleasure rolled through him in waves. He slowly went lax, floating just over the sheets, and gave a groan as Thor slowly pulled his finger out.

Steve panted for breath, opening his eyes to smile at Thor, then froze.

He’s somehow wrapped most of his tail around the champion like a constricting snake, and Thor’s face was smothered under the girth of it.

“ _I’m so sorry_ ” Steve said, quickly unwrapping himself.

“ _Worry not,_ ” Thor said as his face was freed. He coughed lightly, clearing his throat after the brief suffocation. “ _It’s a great pride to be crushed by a lover in the throes of pleasure_ ”

Thor’s smile was genuine and warm, and Steve was just glad he hadn’t strangled the man. With the relief he hadn’t snuffed his lover, Steve let himself relax again, sinking down to the bed. He shifted his tail around to Thor’s back and gave him a light push, bringing him up the bed to where’s Steve’s more humanoid half lay. He didn’t stop Thor’s momentum though, and instead gripped underneath each of the man’s thighs, pulling him up his chest to sit crouched over him, a knee above each shoulder.

Steve nosed under Thor’s hard cock, and he licked a line from root to tip, finding his tongue much longer than it usually was. Thor moaned deep, gently cradling Steve’s head.

“ _Your mouth then?_ ” Thor asked.

“ _If you don’t mind_ ” Steve smiled up at him, nuzzling his cock again.

“ _I’ve never minded in my life_ ” Thor laughed, and Steve grinned back. In this he was more confident, and he let his new tongue wrap around Thor, guiding his cock into his mouth.

He felt the sensation of a hand start jerkin his own cock, and he stopped himself from rolling his eyes. _Really Bucky? Gonna go again?_

The appetite on his husband.

* * *

“Steve! Oh, fuck, Stevie, yeah” Bucky breathed, thrusting into Clint’s mouth in the back of a dirty alleyway.

Clint had been confused when Bucky had yanked him back here, but his hurried explanation had Clint both intrigued and worried. Bucky had just had a _two-hour orgasm_ , and he thought he could suddenly go again? Not only that, but he’d lost a soaked-towel’s worth of blood- would he be physically able to?

It turned out the answer was yes.

Though Clint loved giving head, he wasn’t really feeling it as Bucky cried Steve’s name over and over, and when Bucky came down his throat, he pulled off quickly after swallowing.

“Yeah, we’re not doing that again” he said, wiping his mouth and standing.

Bucky looked at him with concern. “Y’okay? Shit, did I hurt you?” he panted, focusing on Clint.

“Nah man, you were fine. It’s just… I don’t really dig the whole screaming someone else’s name while we fuck. And I get he’s your husband- not blaming you or anything- but, uh, if you’re gonna be calling his name, maybe next time you deal with that on your own? ‘Cause, it’s-” he wrung his hands together, trying to word it right. “You know I like being used, sometimes, but, uh, in a more role-play kind of way? This just felt like I wasn’t part of it”

Bucky ran a hand through his hair and nodded, catching his breath, “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. Just,” he looked at Clint hesitantly, “he hasn’t done much lately, you know? Usually it’s a back and forth, but, uh, since I’ve been doing it so much, he’s dropped off on his end” Bucky explained quietly.

Clint softened. “Aw, Bucky, you know he loves you”

“I know that!” he snapped, leaning his back to the wall. “It’s just, I don’t _feel_ him these day. This is the first orgasm he’s had on his end in _months_ , not counting whatever orgy thing that happened last week. I’d have been worried he died except I know he _can’t_ , and- and” Bucky paused, took a shaky breath, “I miss him is all” he said. He quickly wiped at his eyes, looking away. His posture had turned hunched and protective.

Clint leaned on the wall next to Bucky, standing shoulder-to-should with his friend.

“Hey, we’ll figure this out, okay? And then you can go celibate for a year to get him back” Clint said, putting his head on Bucky’s shoulder. Bucky laughed wetly and sniffled, but kept his face turned away. Clint didn’t push him.

“You’re being a really good friend right now, and it’s kinda making me feel bad that I gotta go again” Bucky said after a moment, his voice somehow shaky and cheeky at the same time.

Clint huffed, “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

“Yeah, that’s the problem, jackass”

Clint sighed and smiled sadly, thumping his friend gently on the chest. “I’ll be out at the street waiting, do what you gotta” Then Clint peeled away, moving back to the head of the alley. “Oh, and if you’re not out in ten, I’m coming back to check on you” he called, thoughts of blood loss on his mind.

He exited the alley and leaned on the wall near its entrance.

“So, he fucks a lot?” Natasha asked, appearing next to him in a blink and making Clint jump. “Fuck!” he exclaimed, leaning down and putting his hands on his knees. “Don’t _do_ that” he said shakily.

When he looked back up, she was unabashed at having scared him, casually chewing gum.

“So does he?” she asked.

“What?” Clint stood upright, squinting at her.

She rolled her eyes. “Does he fuck a lot? Since he got the mark”

“Not sure it’s my business to tell”

She regarded him until he swallowed nervously. “Fair enough” she finally said.

Clint wished she’d stayed hidden. He didn’t know if his heart could take this.

“So, uh, what’s with the sudden appearing stuff?” he asked, leaning against the wall again. “You a teleporter?”

“ _Teleport_ _er_ ” she tisked. “No, I don’t _teleport_. Teleporting’s for bitch wizards. I dance the Veil. It’s an unfathomable ocean of infinite void, and it takes great discipline not to be seduced by its call” she bristled.

Clint held up his hands in submission. Apparently he’d touched a nerve. He quickly shifted the topic.

“Alright, and, uh, you’ve been following me from Doggate using your, uh, veil dancing?

Natasha nodded, eyeing him with lingering offense. “I track the normal way, but I dance around tricky situations. Your familiar made me dip into the void more than once” Clint fought a smile at that- Lucky was good at what he did.

“Can’t do long distances or I’ll be swallowed into the nothing, though” Natasha added.

Clint nodded, that actually sounded cool. “So, were you there when the cultists attacked?”

“Yeah. You handled that very well, by the way. You’d make a good sniper for the assassin’s guild, if you ever felt the need for a career change”

Clint blanched. “Aw, fuck no. I’ve worked with a few, and no offense to you, but all those assassin’s were assholes. They’re the worst kind of rogue”

Natasha barked a laugh. “You’re telling me”

Clint smiled. The Black Widow seemed alright, though he did wonder. “Hey, since you were there when the cultists attacked, why didn’t you help? I wouldn’t have gotten to the guild if I’d died”

Natasha shrugged, “If you die, the guild gets first rights to your possessions to pay off your fees. My job’s to make sure you don’t try to skip out on your hearing, not keep you alive”

So she was just here to kill him if he ran, and literally nothing else. That wasn’t scary at all. “But what about your, uh- what about Bucky? You didn’t feel like helping him out either?”

“Ha! He’d have been insulted if I did. _I’d_ be insulted if it was the other way around”

Just then Bucky exited the alley, his eyes dry and his expression composed. “I’m good, thanks for stopping” he said quickly, slinging his pack more securely on his shoulders.

“Anytime” Clint smiled, and Bucky returned it. His eyes went past Clint to Natasha and became more reserved.

“So you’re traveling with us too?”

“If you’ll have me”

Bucky cocked an eyebrow, “Do we have a choice?”

“Not really, but I can follow at a distance”

“Will you?”

“No” she said, then blew a bubble with her gum, letting it pop.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “You haven’t changed”

Natasha’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve changed plenty” she said dangerously.

“You’re exactly the same as when we left”

She stiffened. “Take that back”

“Eat a dick”

“Fuck you!”

Natasha kicked out Bucky’s knee from under him, and he hooked his ankle behind hers on his way down. They hit the ground together and started spitting curses.

* * *

Steve followed Thor out to the barrens behind Asgard, where the ocean floor suddenly cut away to a deep abyss. They’d spoken deep into the night, sometimes about themselves, sometimes about their adventures, but mostly about Hydra, and how his cult was effecting the world.

Asgard wasn’t the only civilization under the waves. Like on the land, there were cities and villages and nomadic tribes. There were people everywhere. And some of those people happened to be cultists, too.

Some were associated with each other, others were rogue groups, and some were individual zealots. Hydra had spread his influence wide, but he’d failed to unify everyone. There were even cult factions killing each other over small disagreements.

There were so many different groups trying to summon Hydra, all in different and varied ways, that it was stretching adventurers short. Evil plots were everywhere, always needing to be thwarted, only for another to crop up. Wandering monster population had gone up considerably as most cults only managed to summon some other creature besides their master.

As Thor explained, Steve added his two cents, which were mostly how the exact same was happening on the land.

For the most part it seemed like none were successful, but with so many trying, the worry was one of them would get it eventually. And that was the rub, because they couldn’t know _which_. Perhaps Hydra purposefully hadn’t unified his followers, or maybe he’d given a single group the means to summon him, and the rest were a distraction.

It was either a very clever or poor attempt, but either way, it was a problem.

As for Hydra himself, there wasn’t much to know. He was an aberration from the Elde time, which didn’t mean much. He was big and old and powerful. He wanted to destroy everything, and he had the ability to do so, provided he was _here_ to do it. His biggest weakness was _not_ being here.

“ _I’ve sent a party of my best to find a way to imprison him again, should he be summoned._ _O_ _therwise, the_ _most_ _we can do is kill his follow_ _ers_ _wherever they_ _appear_ ” Thor was saying as they swam to the barrens. Steve nodded, but he didn’t like how that was the only thing they could do.

“ _Is there a way to stop his influence from reaching our plane? If he can’t communicate, we should stop seeing the_ _se_ _cults everywhere_ ” Steve said.

Thor nodded, “ _A smart idea, but I’ve no_ _clue_ _how it would be done. You’d need to close a planar wall,_ _and that is no easy feat._ _Though if you find a way_ _let me know, I would aid you in_ _such a task_ _. At this time, however, we cannot spare our adventurers for the land_ ”

Steve nodded in understanding. Above the water was the same. They couldn’t lend any adventurers for the ocean either.

“ _I understand the same is true for your people of the land,_ ” Thor said, as if reading his mind, “ _and I appreciate the help you are giving us now_ ”

“ _Think nothing of it. I’m a Paladin, it’s my duty to help all those on this plane in need. That includes the ocean_ ” Steve said as they paused right at the edge of the drop point, floating side-by-side.

“ _Nonetheless, I give you my thanks, and the blessing of Asgard_ ” he said, clasping Steve’s arm in his.

“ _The armor and weapon’s you’ve given me are more than enough_ ” Steve smiled, squeezing Thor’s arm.

“ _Now_ that _was just charity._ _I could not bear to_ _see the rags you came in with_ ” Thor joked.

“ _Yeah, well, us surface-dwellers don’t make our clothes for the ocean_ ” Steve said wryly.

They shared one more smile, then Thor clapped Steve on the should. “ _A fair battle, my friend. I wish your victory be swift, or your death honourable_ ”

“ _You and me both, pal_ ” Steve said, then swam out to the abyss. Thor saw him off, then turned to return to the city

Thor had told him of the problem plaguing Asgard, and how their defenses were being worn down with each attack. Steve had listened, and decided to handle it. As a Paladin it was his duty, but more than just that- as Steve, he couldn’t leave them to face something like that alone.

Plus, now that he had his answers, new questions had arisen, and he didn’t know where to start just yet. A fight like this was just the break he needed to clear his head.

Speaking of which, where was his opponent? Thor said it came out at the slightest sign of movement above the abyss, and Steve had been swimming for a while.

Of course, that’s when he felt the water shift around him. From the dark depths rose a giant serpent, it’s head large enough to swallow a castle, and according to Thor, its body longer than a thousand leagues. It glared at him from it’s multitude of eyes, and opened its mouth to reveal rows upon rows of teeth larger than trees.

Steve cracked his neck, then pulled out his sword and shield, bracing himself for battle.

* * *

“This isn’t, _fuck_ , weird for you?” Clint panted into the sheets, Bucky’s hand pressing his head down. He was on his knees, ass up, and Bucky was thrusting into him steadily.

“In what way?” Bucky panted back.

“Your wife’s still in the room”

“She’s _not_ my wife. And she can leave if she wants”

“She’s fine where she is” Natasha called from the bunk across from them, a magazine in her hands.

“She can go fuck herself” Bucky said. “I told her we were gonna fuck, it’s her fault she chose to stay”

“I’m not getting kicked out the room _I_ paid for” Natasha sniped.

“You two seem pretty okay with this, but not gonna lie, I feel like this should be weird” Clint commented.

“We paid for it too, and we can fuck in it if we want” Bucky said, ignoring Clint.

“I’m well aware” Natasha replied, also ignoring Clint. She turned a page loudly, not looking at them.

“Maybe we could, _unf_ , trade off? You take a walk on the deck for an hour, we do the same for you later, give you some private time?” Clint offered.

“No” she said flatly.

“It’s fine Clint, I can guarantee she isn’t taking any enjoyment from this” Bucky said, changing the angle and making Clint see stars.

“You can bet on that” Natasha agreed, face buried in her magazine.

“See, that’s the thing that’s making it weird” he commented breathlessly.

Clint suddenly heard a pang in his head, and _uh-oh, oh boy, oh-no, not good_. “Pull out” he said quickly, pushing up off the bed.

“Seriously?” Bucky asked as he eased out. “I’ve seen you eat out some lady while a priest gave you the holier-than-though stink-eye, but an asshole- who’s only enduring this to _spite me_ \- gets to you?”

“It’s not that” he said, shuffling to get his clothes on as fast as possible. “Though for the record, the priest thing was a completely different situation- _he_ crashed _our_ orgy”

“So what’s got you so uppity all of a sudden?” Bucky asked, leaning back on the bed.

“Lucky’s gotten out of his box, and there’s a cat on board, so I gotta go deal with that before he does something I get blamed for” he hurried, getting his boots on and bolting from the room. Lucky _knew_ he wasn’t supposed to chase cats, and he was purposefully hiding his presence from Clint now.

He was making his way to the storage deck- that’s where a ship cat would be, right?- when he heard yelling from above, and the distinct shout of “Somebody get that dog!” He turned on his heels and went above.

On the deck it was chaos. Sailors tripped over each other or ran into crates, all while chasing Lucky, who was in turn chasing the ship’s orange cat. For the life of him, Clint couldn’t figure out Lucky’s predisposition with cats, considering he wasn’t a dog.

From a distance he might look like a golden retriever, but anyone with eyes would notice he was a deep green colour, and petting his fur would find it to be soft and damp like moss. He was Clint’s constant companion, trailing him in forests and acting as his eyes and ears for the area. Clint loved and cherished him; but right now he wanted to strangle the sack of moss.

The cat was fast and nimble, twisting between legs and over obstacles with grace and swiftness, leaving nothing disturbed in its wake.

In the forest, Lucky was just as agile, whispering through the undergrowth with unnatural stealth. Here on the ship though, with nary a living tree in sight and the air damp with salt, he was ungainly. Lucky was a clumsy mess who bowled over anyone in his way and sent crates and barrels tipping where he bumped into them. The only reason he hadn’t been caught was because the sailor’s hands kept slipping through his mossy fur.

Clint put a finger under his tongue and whistled sharply, sending out a mental call at the same time. Lucky scrabbled to a stop, his ears suddenly lowered and his tail tucked between his legs, and he backed up behind one of the crates. The commotion slowed, and many sets of eyes turned angrily to Clint. He ignored them for the moment.

“Hey! I see you! Get out of there!” Clint called, sending another summons with his mind. Lucky slowly slunk out towards him, avoiding eye contact. Clint crouched down and snapped his fingers. Lucky quickly curled up into a tight ball, knowing full well he was in trouble and quickly taking the chance to hide. His fur rippled and shifted as he collapsed in on himself, shrinking down into a palm-sized ball of damp moss. Clint scooped him up and tucked him into his pocket.

“Fuck was that?” one of the sailors snarled at him, stepping into Clint’s view.

Clint stood to meet the sailor’s eyes. “Sorry for the trouble” he said quickly, “he was supposed to stay in his box, but I’ll keep him on me personally for the rest of the trip”

A vein started to throb along the sailor’s forehead. Clint tried again, laying it on thick.

“I’ll take full responsibility for any mess he made, and I’ll help clean as best I can” he added, spotting the upturned crates. All were sealed and unbroken, and it looked like they only needed to be re-stacked- something Clint was more than happy to do if it would get these seafarers off his ass.

The sailor bared his teeth, staring Clint down. It didn’t look like he was going to accept his apology- in fact, it looked like he was considering tossing him overboard, as were the other surrounding him.

A shrieking whistle sounded from above, putting Clint’s earlier whistle to shame and making everyone on the deck flinch.

“Ey! Let ‘im go you cunts, he’s apologized an’ offered to clean his dog’s mess. Now get back to work, an’ quit rassin’ the fares” a voice ordered.

The crew mumbled their own apologies, dispersing back to their duties, some still giving him the stink eye. Then the voice shouted “An’ when he’s done, tie those fuckin’ crates _down._ I’m not payin’ you for loose stacks”, which got the seamen grumbling and shooting Clint even more sour looks. Barely a day on the boat and he’d already upset a third of the crew.

Not all of them, though.

Clint looked up to where the voice had come from, and saw a man hanging off the side of the main-mast, one arm and leg on the ladder, the other two hanging in the air. He regarded Clint curiously.

“What’s your name, traveler? I ain’t seen a dog in the manifest, I’ll be wantin’ to change that”

“Clint Barton, but he’s not a dog, he’s a mossdog” he answered, moving to pick up one of the crates and put it back where it had fallen from.

“Looks like a dog, acts like one too” the man observed idly.

“Mostly, but you saw how he changed. He’s a plant-fey, made of moss and magic”

The man whistled impressively. “That’s an interesting creature to have on you. Where’d you get ‘im?” he asked, twisting around the mast to keep in sight of Clint as he cleaned Lucky’s mess.

“I found him in the feywilds being hunted by some Kree, he’s stuck around ever since” Clint explained, righting a barrel.

The man let go of the mast and fell to the deck, landing easily on his bare feet. He wore looser clothing from the rest of the crew, and kept a red bandanna around his neck. “Sam Wilson” he greeted, offering Clint his hand to shake.

Clint took it and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you. And thanks for getting them off me earlier” he said.

He tisked. “You offered to clean your mess” he said, waving away Clint’s thanks like it was unnecessary. “It’s more than any of the crew’d do after comin’ back hammered. They knock shit over an’ leave it like that, blame each other the next day. Least you had the guts to own your fault”

“Still, you saved me getting tossed aside. You’re one of their officers, then?” Clint guessed.

“The Captain” Sam corrected with a smile.

On the inside, Clint sighed in relief. He may have made an enemy of the crew, but he’d gotten on the good side of the captain, and that about balanced the scale in his favour.

“Well, Captain Wilson, you have my thanks. And sorry again for Lucky, I’d just figured he’d stay in his box while sailing. He doesn’t much like being outside of forests, but I didn’t realize you had a cat onboard”

“We don’t” Sam said wryly, looking around Clint to said cat, who was sitting atop the freshly stacked crates and glaring menacingly. “Ain’t that right, Goose?” he asked, and the cat hissed. The hiss turned garbled, and Clint’s eyes widened as the creature’s mouth open beyond what it should, unhinging as a small mass of tentacles slithered out and writhed threateningly. In the back of Clint’s mind he felt Lucky whimper. He didn’t think he’d be chasing this thing around the ship anytime soon.

“That’s an, uh, interesting creature you’ve got there” Clint commented.

“My second mate found ‘im when he’d been stuck in the Stills. It’s what you’d call the ocean’s feywilds” he explained.

Clint raised his eyebrows, intrigued. The land and sea were different domains, and he didn’t know much about the fey equivalent here.

“If you’re inclined, I reckon he’ll be interested in trading gab on the subject” Sam said. Clint was _very_ inclined; he’d never met anyone else who’d survived a stint in any of the fey lands.

Which was how he ended up getting an invite to supper in the captain’s quarters.

It had been a bit of a rough start, but after befriending the captain- and just as quickly befriending the second mate, Riley- Clint was finding this voyage to be taking a turn for the better. He got to eat good food with two interesting folks, share stories of his time in the feywilds with someone who understood, and best of all, he didn’t have to deal with whatever weird thing was going on between Bucky and Natasha.

He and Riley were comparing notes on the feywilds and Stills; how they were similar but different in so many ways, while Sam listened with interest.

“Time would speed up if you stood still too long, but it would slow if you moved. I’d spend two minutes crossing a mountain range, then six months making camp for the night” Clint was explaining.

“I’d go years without time passing, if you can follow that” Riley said. “The sun and moon rose and fell, but the _stars_ , they didn’t move an inch. Not for years, until suddenly they’d shift overnight. I spent eighty years out there, yet only ten days passed”

Clint nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I tell people I was there twenty years, but like, who really knows? Even my body lost track- I’d go a month without eating because only an hour was passing”

Riley nodded, “Aye, I think I ate maybe a dozen meals at most. But the _thirst_. Something about the place makes you desperate for water, even if you don’t need it. And nary a drop to drink that isn’t salted”

“Can’t say I had that. The feywilds is rife with plenty, you’re always a stone’s throw from something edible- then again, it’s likely either poisonous or enchanted. Straight up don’t even bother with mushrooms there, nothing good ever happens when you eat one”

“Sounds tricky. At least I could throw my line and freely take whatever I caught, though likely I’d reel in a monster more apt to eat _me_ ”

Clint made a sympathetic noise around his food, swallowing quickly. “Oh man, I was hunted _so much_. All the fey are either holding court or fucking hunting. Your Stills at least follow the actual rules of the wild, nothing hunting you for sport”

“I’d say being hunted for food is still just as bad”

“Yeah, but it’s less insulting I think” Clint said, and Riley laughed. They shared an easy smile over their similar experiences.

“Sounds like hell for you both” Sam observed.

Both Clint and Riley shrugged, making dismissive noises, and Sam scoffed. “You’re as bad as him; he refuses to play it off as anything but lightly” Sam told Clint. “He goes missin’ ten days, comes back an’ says its been eighty years, acts like it’s nothin’”

“Well it was!” Riley huffed. “Honestly, you make it seem like a big deal”

Sam’s mouth twisted like he wanted to say more, but this was clearly an old argument, and the captain let it drop, opting to take another bite.

Riley turned back to Clint. “My husband thinks I should be reacting worse than I am”

“I think you went through somethin’ terrible and need to talk about it” Sam corrected.

“I talk about it plenty”

Sam only grunted, unconvinced, but he didn’t comment further. Clint took a big mouthful, chewing slowly and keeping his gaze on his plate while the two looked at each other and communicated with pointed looks. He left them to their silent conversation, until they resolved whatever it was that was between them. Then Sam kicked Riley’s leg under the table and motioned to Clint with his head, and Clint missed whatever turn their conversation took.

“So, ah, Clint. How’ve you found your time on the _Falcon_ so far?” Riley asked, referring to their ship.

Clint shrugged. “It’s a good ship, very comfortable, very well-maintained, and fair-priced. Has an excellent captain and second mate, too” he said with a charming smile, which both men returned.

In hindsight, that was probably the point in the conversation where Clint would say things started to turn flirtatious.

One moment they were discussing life on the sea, next Riley was explaining trawl-oil. It was derived from the glans of a trawler-eel, a fish that could stretch its skin far beyond that which was natural.

And now Clint was learning that when that oil was applied to, say, an orifice, said orifice became far more loose and elastic than any amount of lube and prep could ever achieve.

Which was how he ended up sandwiched between Sam and Riley on their bed, both their cocks in his ass.

“Fuck, I can feel you both” Clint gasped as the two men thrust into him in opposition, Sam pulling back as Riley pushed in.

“Aye, feels good, don’t it?” Riley panted into Clint’s temple while Clint rested his chin on the man’s shoulder. Behind him was Sam, pressed over his back and mouthing at Riley’s ear. The two continued to fuck into Clint, each gripping him tightly to keep him pinned between them. They crowded so close that Clint couldn’t move his hips, caught in the tempo they set.

“Gave ‘im the oil an’ he’s _still_ tight” Sam commented, thrusting extra hard to prove his point, making Clint’s eyes roll back as the force pushed his cock harder against Riley’s stomach.

“He’s looser than an oiled anchor, your cock’s just big” Riley retorted.

“Sound’s like you’re complainin’” Sam laughed.

“Perish the thought” Riley drawled, making Sam laugh. The two shifted their hips, readjusting inside him, and Clint choked on another moan as he felt their cocks push and pull at his rim, rubbing against his prostate in twinned pressure. Sam took each of Clint’s wrist in a hand and pinned them to his sides, immobilizing him further and leaving Clint without control in the best way.

“Wanna hear somethin’ that’ll really get your blood singin’?” Sam asked.

It took Clint two tries to get his answer out as he was jostled between the two relentlessly, managing to mouth a breathy ‘ _yeah_ ’.

Sam leaned down and brushed his lips by Clint’s ear, then started to whistle, low and quiet.

The world slowed as the sound settled on Clint’s skin like warm honey. Muscles that had been pulled tight in pleasure now relaxed, loose and pliant as he was ensconced in soothing tones. Clint turned his head to look at Sam and whimpered at the sight.

Sam was gorgeous, like a sunrise over the forest. He was ethereal, a sublime being of pure beauty surrounded by a halo of gossamer light, opalescent and shimmering. Clint wanted to touch, needed to touch, and he pushed back, trying to take more of Sam; Sam, who was perfect, who was supernal and exquisite, who Clint wanted to melt into the embrace of. He was everything, he was the world, he-

Sam’s whistling quieted, and Clint whimperedgain a as the corona around Sam faded, then blinked when his senses returned. Riley was chuckling underneath him, his thrust’s slowed as he watched.

“It’s something else, huh? Sam’s gotta be careful not to get too loud or he’ll call half the crew to our bed”

“What was that?” Clint asked, his muscles tightening again as the pleasure sparking through him returned on the heels of the soft bliss he’d felt.

“A siren’s call. Good ‘nough to sink ships” Sam answered as he rolled his hips, making Riley groan.

“It felt like sunshine in my heart” Clint said distantly, gasping when one of them hit his prostate again.

“Mm, so it does. Lot’s of men have fallen to his call” Riley hummed.

“Not you?” Clint had the wherewithal to ask, having noticed Riley hadn’t covered his ears.

“Every word his says calls me. His voice lives in my heart” Riley said, regarding Sam with soft eyes.

“You fuckin’ sap” Sam husked, and he leaned down to share a tender kiss with Riley. The two paused their movement’s as they kissed.

“Enough’a that” Sam said as their lips parted. “We can love each other any day, tonight I wanna fuck the brains outta this guy” Sam growled, thrusting hard enough into Clint to make him yelp in surprise. Riley only laughed, planting his feet on the bed for better leverage and meeting Sam’s thrusts in synchronization, and Clint lost himself again to the feel of being fucked twofold.

* * *

Clint wobbled back to his quarters, relaxed and happy. So much so that he forgot why he’d stayed away in the first place.

“-your fault he even got the idea!” he heard Bucky snap as he opened the door.

“What happened to all your talk of ‘ _winter elf societal_ _bullshit_ ’? You said neither of us were to blame!”

“Don’t twist my words!”

“I’m _quoting you!_ ”

Clint paused at the door and sighed. _Right._

He squeezed past Natasha, who was blocking part on the doorway, and fell face-first into his bed. The two somewhat-former assassins stopped their fighting when they saw him enter. He could feel Bucky’s eyes reading his appearance.

“Was Lucky actually loose out there or did you run off to fuck somewhere away from us?” he asked.

Clint lifted his head and pointed at Bucky. “If I wanted to fuck somewhere else, I would’ve said. I _did_ , however, stay away because of whatever the fuck _this is_ ” he said, motioning between the two. “And it happened to lead to sex, unrelated” Clint added.

Bucky and Natasha frowned, sharing a glance. “If it’s any help,” Bucky started, “we were trying to work it out”

“That was working it out?”

“It got out of hand” Natasha admitted.

Clint sighed. “Can you at least tell me what’s between you two? Is it the gay thing?” he asked, and Bucky visibly balked.

“You don’t gotta tell me if you don’t want, but don’t drag me in the middle of it like you did before” Clint finally said when the silence held too long.

“It’s complicated” Bucky mumbled.

“Then uncomplicate it”

“It has to do with winter elf… stuff”

Clint motioned for Bucky to go on. He and Natasha shared a look.

“Okay, so you know how winter elf culture is kinda… strict? And how they put a lot of stock in bloodlines?”

Clint nodded, listening silently.

“So Natasha and me are- _were_ , part of elite families” Bucky said.

“How elite?”

“In your terms, I’d say we’d be somewhere in the viscount range of nobility” Natasha said.

Clint’s eyebrows rose. “So you’re close to the royals?”

“We _were_ royals”

“Just on the lower end of the ranking” Bucky added.

“But it was high enough for- _arrangements_ , to be common” Natasha continued.

Clint grimaced. “Aw, gross”

“Yeah…” Bucky said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. “It was arranged and declared official by the High Archjudicar. We ran off before the blood signing happened, but the documents were already filed and notarized” he explained. “But it’s only official in the _Stezylgansk_ province, the marriage isn’t recognized outside of it” he added, shooting a look to Natasha.

“It’s still official though” she said.

“Not here it isn’t!”

Clint looked between them, until he finally said “ _That’s_ why you guys are fighting? Because you can’t divorce?”

“We _can_ divorce though, that’s the problem!” Natasha said irritably.

“There’s nothing to divorce!”

“You’re just too chickenshit to go back and annul it!” Natasha said in a raised voice.

“You were too chickenshit to leave before it became official! We could’ve been gone days before and the whole thing would’ve fallen apart! If I hadn’t dragged you away before the blood signing, we’d’ve been stuck there!” Bucky yelled back.

“I was struggling with the choice to leave the only home I knew!”

“And I wasn’t? We both left people we cared about behind!”

“Something we wouldn’t have had to do if you’d just found a _wife_ for yourself!” Natasha hissed.

“I don’t see why _I_ had to find a beard, you could’ve found a husband too, you know!”

“You’re older than me, you had years to find one!”

“You were three ranks above me, you had better options!”

“I didn’t _ask_ to be born into a higher class!”

“Well I didn’t ask to be born _first!_ ”

As the two went back to they argument, Clint let his head fall back on the bed. He pulled a pillow up to cover his ears, hoping to muffle their yelling. _Gods_ , this was turning into a headache.


	6. Chapter 6

Bucky was leaning on the railing and looking out to sea, taking a break from the cramped quarters with his ‘wife’.

Clint was above deck as well, over by the wheel and talking with the second mate. He’d instigated ‘private time’ in the room, where they’d trade off during the day to help ease some of the tension. In another hour, he and Clint would go back, and Natasha would occupy herself elsewhere.

Clint was the only person he’d ever told about the nature of his and Natasha’s relationship- at least the marriage portion of it. Steve knew all of it, of course. Like Steve, Clint thought their problem was a waste of anger- even without the knowledge that he and Natasha used to be childhood friends.

Maybe they were both right, but he couldn’t drop the issue so easily. Every time he saw Natasha, the old resentment came back up. She wanted to go back and annul it- but Bucky wanted nothing to do with the place. It was full of xenophobic assholes, who wanted to go back to that? And for a paper that had no meaning outside of the province, no less.

They tried sometimes- to talk about it, start a dialogue. One of them would start teasing how they used to, but instead of a friendly retort, there’d be snap of something insulting, and then it went downhill from there. Their conversations were always on a knife’s edge these days.

They used to be each other’s best friend, sneaking out to parties together, traveling to the outskirts where class wasn’t so tightly upheld- covering for the other in the convoluted courts of royalty, where every word could have three meanings if you knew how to play. They’d had each other’s backs.

Then their respective great-grandparents noticed they’d been unwed for too long, and arranged the stupid fucking marriage. He and Natasha hadn’t even debated it, they made plans to leave and never look back- except Natasha had been hesitant at first, and it cost them. The marriage had become documented and made official, and Bucky had spent an entire night convincing her to run away with him before the blood signing forced them to stay. It had been harrowing.

Once outside the winter elf lands they’d promptly joined the assassin’s guild, which was a wild story of itself.

He didn’t know how or when it happened, but they drifted at some point while earning their titles. The Black Widow and the Winter Soldier, both deadly assassins in their own unique way. They’d lost touch three years after they left _Stezylgansk_ , and their paths crossed rarely since. This was maybe the fourth time he’d seen her in twenty years.

He was thinking back to when times were simpler, even if they’d been restrictive- when one of the sailors shouted.

“Breach in the waves!” she yelled from the crow’s nest, and Bucky glanced up to see the lookout holding a spyglass to her eyes, looking out at the water. The captain swung around from foremast and called back to her.

“An’ what of it?”

“I’m not sure Cap’n, it ent whales, nairy sharks nor beast I know’ve; but it’s a’plenty, and they’s circlin’ us wide!”

Bucky looked back out and squinted. Off in the distance, several miles at least, he saw small shapes breaking from the surface. To him they looked like whales, but what did he know? He kept his eyes focused far and followed the line of creatures. Sure enough, the forms were breaking in a huge circle, surrounding the ship in a massive perimeter.

“I’ll take a look” the captain said, and he let himself drop from the mast. Before he hit the deck though, his skin erupted in black and red feathers, a blur of wings creating a small whirlwind against the ocean breeze as he flew off faster than the eye could process. Bucky barely caught a glimpse of talons and a beak before he was off.

Huh. Interesting folks.

He watched the captain rise on the winds, circling above the creatures. Then he started to rise higher, then _higher_ , until he was nothing but a dot in the sky.

The other crew had paused their work as well, watching their captain above. After a few more circles he started to dive back down, aiming for the ship. As he came in to land, his feather looked to dissolve in the air, revealing his clothed human form underneath.

He landed on the deck with a thunk, and at the top of his lungs he shouted “GO ABOUT!” to the second mate, running his hand in a circle in the universal sign to turn around. “All hands on deck!” he yelled to the rest of the crew as he climbed up the main mast and started retying the sails.

“Captain, we’ll haul wind! It don’t blow in our favour!” the second mate called, though he was turning the wheel all the same.

“We’re sailing into the heart of a leviathan, the wind ain’t gonna get any more favourable!” he shouted back, and the crew _really_ started hauling ass. The deck filled with shouting as crew members started shifting the sails in a flurry of movement.

Bucky looked back out at the breaking forms. _Leviathan?_ He made his way to the helm to join Clint and the second mate. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“We’ve sailed into the middle of a _fucking leviathan_ is what” the second mate snapped, straining to hold the wheel as it fought him. Bucky looked back out and caught sight of one of the breaking forms rising from the water again, except this time it _kept_ rising, lifting out until it became an arch, each end dipping back into the water.

Bucky realized what the captain had seen from above. Those weren’t individual creatures, but _one huge_ _beast_ _._ It was serpentine and coiled in a circle around them, and they were sailing straight towards its center.

“ _Shit_ ” he heard Clint say under his breath.

The boat started to tilt as they turned hard, enough that Bucky had to grab the railing for support. Clint was beside him doing the same, and he watched the muscles on the second mate’s arms bulge with the strain of keeping the wheel locked in position.

There was a roaring sound behind them, and Bucky turned to see the water break as another huge section of the creature’s body breached the surface, this time barely a mile out. A chain reaction had started, and suddenly more breaches came up all around them.

Like groundhogs popping from burrows, the beast was thrashing, sending parts of itself above the water, then slamming them back down. Huge waves formed, and soon they disturbed the water about the ship, rocking them from side-to-side. The ship lost its direction from the turbulent motion and started to turn back inwards.

“I said _go about!_ ” the captain yelled again from somewhere above.

“She won’t answer!” the second mate replied. “The sails are hardened up and the beast’s scudding us!”

A spray of water crashed over the side from a large wave, soaking the deck and half those on it. Clint grabbed Bucky’s arm and shouted over the din, “We should get below deck!”

“Natasha’s still got another hour to herself!” he called back.

“Are you _fucking serious!?_ ”

“I’m trying to make an effort!”

“Make an effort to stay alive!” Clint yelled, smacking Bucky upside the head.

“Breach a’starboard!” someone shouted, and the whole deck tilted as a massive scaled wall rose from the water barely twenty feet from the ship’s side, sending the whole vessel at a sudden lean before it rocked back.

The crew all froze at the sight of it, far too massive than anything had a right to be. Even the captain had stopped yelling.

“Quit your gawking and fend off the fucker!” the second mate bellowed, his face contorted in strain as he held steadfast on the wheel. His cry cut through the awe, and the crew got back to their hurried work in jilted movements, a few falling over as the deck continued to tilt violently.

Bucky wasn’t one of the crew, however, and he kept his gaze on the section of leviathan before him. He squinted and saw between its scales were deep furrows, small compared to its size, but there in multitude and bleeding steadily.

The section kept rising still, and along it’s top Bucky spotted a figure, armored and stabbing into the beast with their sword. Their lower half was long and finned like a fish.

“Hey, it’s one of the merfolk!” Bucky pointed out to Clint, who followed along his sight and spotted them too.

“Damn, think there’s a battle underneath?”

“Could be, just our luck we sailed over…” Bucky trailed off, squinting harder at the figure. They didn’t wear any helmet, either by choice or lost in the fight, and Bucky couldn’t help but find the wet golden mop atop their head familiar-

_Steve?!_

“Turn your ship around, it’s not safe here!” Steve yelled from atop the leviathan, yanking his sword out and stabbing it back into the groove between the scales, then dragging it inwards to create another deep gash.

“We’re tryin’! The beast’s got us scudded!” the captain shouted back.

Bucky dragged himself along the railing to get closer and shouted “STEVE!”, waving his hand desperately. Beside him he heard Clint say “ _That’s_ Steve?”

Steve’s head turned to him in surprise, shouting back “Bucky?!”

“Yeah!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m traveling! What are _you_ doing here?”

“What’s it look like!?” Steve yelled, stabbing the leviathan again.

“Well when you’re done, wanna get together for a bit? Have some supper maybe?” Bucky called hopefully, gripping the rail as the ship shuddered underneath him. It had been three years since he last saw Steve, and this leviathan looked like the end of an epic quest. Maybe Steve would be free after slaying it?

“Can we talk about this later?” Steve called as the arching form underneath him shuddered, sending Steve sliding along it’s surface and holding on by the hilt of his sword.

“Sure. How much longer do you think you’ll be?”

“Maybe another two days or so?” he answered, prying up one of the scales and thrusting his sword in deep.

“Yeah, I can meet you at Fogport, s’where we’re heading!” Bucky shouted over the yells of the others as the ship tilted dangerously hard, the deck running nearly perpendicular to the water. His legs dangled in the air, but he had eyes only for the figure on the leviathan’s back.

“What direction is that? This thing’s been-” Steve started to say, but he was cut off as a massive head burst from the ocean and clamped down on its own body, taking Steve into its mouth, then tearing a bloodied chunk away.

It took Bucky a second to process that the leviathan had bitten a part of itself to get at Steve, and he watched wide-eyed as the monster crushed everything in its mouth.

“ _Fucking serious?_ ” he complained. He heard Clint swear too, and then a second time, realizing what that meant. His friend immediately let go of the railing to dive into the water. Bucky turned and called out to the captain, “Send your crew into the water!”

“Are you crazy?” he yelled, not looking up from the roped he was lashing.

“That guy was a phoenix, and that thing just killed him. It’s about to get _very_ hot _very_ soon!” he shouted.

The captain paused and looked at him, squinting.

“Why would I lie?!” Bucky shouted, affronted with the blatant distrust. He was trying to be _nice_.

The captain regarded him a moment more, then gave the order. “Abandon ship!” he shouted, then dove into the water himself.

The crew followed suit without question. Bucky cast one more annoyed glance at the monster for disrupting his conversation with Steve, then let go of the railing too. As he fell, he kept his gaze on the self-satisfied expression of the leviathan, which lasted barely a second before Bucky saw its head explode in flame. The blast pushed outwards, and Bucky hit the water just as it reached him.

Not that it would’ve done him any harm, but he didn’t want to lose another set of clothes.

* * *

“We ain’t blaming you” Sam was saying.

“See, I can’t help but feel blamed when you say that” Clint said.

“ _We_ ain’t blaming you,” Sam emphasized again, “but the crew might have other ideas”

Clint looked around the beach at the collection of sailors milling around and gathering any surviving wreckage that washed up on the little island they found themselves on. When they weren’t actively hauling something to shore from the shallows, they were casting sour glances at him.

“Why though? I didn’t blow up the ship”

“ _We_ know that,” Sam said, Riley nodding beside him, “but you came in with the elf that’s married to that phoenix, and we know there’s no correlation, but seamen are finicky. You already got their rotten eyes with your dog, and this didn’t help”

“But I literally didn’t _do_ any of that!”

Sam nodded again, perfectly understanding.

“Aye, but the crew’s not gonna take it up with the phoenix, and they’ve got suspicions about the elf, so they’re laying blame on you” Riley explained.

Clint groaned, running a hand over his face. He looked over to Bucky and Steve, who were helping drag some of the heavier wreckage to shore. Well, Steve was helping- Bucky was ogling his naked husband from his seat on a rock.

“So what, I gotta sleep with one eye open now?” he asked despondently.

“For the next few nights at least. The blame should die down after that, ‘specially once we start working our ways off this island” Sam said.

“You know a way off?”

Now Riley nodded. “Aye. We got wreckage, we got trees- we can make something that’ll float. And we’ve got Goose over there” he motioned to the ship’s ‘cat’, who was at the moment a mass of tentacles in the deeper shallows, ominously writhing under the water. “Goose can pull us along ‘til we hit the mainland”

“That’s handy” Natasha said from beside Clint, who jumped at her sudden appearance.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed, glaring at her. She was dry as a bone and carried her pack with her. He looked down at it, then back to her. “I don’t suppose you grabbed my things too?”

“Nope”

Clint sighed. “You realize all the gold I was going to pay the guild was there, right?”

“That sucks”

“You’re not concerned I can’t pay suddenly?”

Natasha shrugged, “My job’s to make sure you get there, not that you can pay”

Clint huffed. And here he;d thought he was starting to get on her good side.

“I’m told you’re the captain?” Steve asked, approaching them with Bucky in tow.

“That’d be me” Sam confirmed.

Steve stuck out his hand. “I’m Steve, Paladin of the Just Order”

“A Paladin, eh? Ain’t seen your kind at sea before” Sam noted, taking his hand.

“We go where we’re needed”

“So it is. I’m Captain Sam Wilson”

They let go. “My condolences for your ship, but as I hear it there was no loss of life”

“Yeah, the sea’s blessed us today. An’ don’t worry yourself about it, we’re insured. It’s about time we be gettin’ a new ship anyhow”

Steve smiled. “A thanks for your understanding. And if there’s anything I can do to help, please, let me know”

“We’ll be gathering wood on the morrow to build a raft, any help will be appreciated” Riley said.

“Tonight we’ll be regroupin’ and takin’ stock, you can relax for now. And I’ll have my crew keep an eye out for some clothes for you” Sam added, casting a quick glance down at Steve’s naked form, though he wasn’t bothered. A few of the crew had stripped down as well, already hanging their clothes to dry, and there wasn’t much modesty going around.

Steve smiled sheepishly, “That’ll be much appreciated, I, ah, have yet to find any clothes that don’t burn off when I die”

“Oh, which reminds me, this is yours I assume?” Natasha said, pulling off something slung on her back. It was a shield, with the star and circle mark of the phoenix.

“Oh, yes! Thank you” Steve said gratefully, taking the shield from her. Then he blinked, and smiled wide. “Natasha!” he exclaimed, pulling her in for a hug. “It’s been so long, I almost didn’t recognize you!” he laughed.

“It’s been a while” she agreed with a wry smile, returning the embrace.

“You save his shield but can’t take a second to grab my sack of gold?” Clint griped.

“If your gold had _also_ smacked me in the face while in the void between worlds, I would’ve grabbed it too” she assured as she let go of Steve. Clint frowned, eyeing the shield jealously.

“Yeah, my shield’s does that. Always finds its way back to me” Steve said, holding it in front of him as a covering for his nudity.

“Great, we’re all okay, we’re all friends now, no plans until tomorrow; let’s go” Bucky spoke, pulling at Steve’s arm.

“I- yes. A thanks again for your graciousness, Captain Wilson” Steve called as Bucky dragged him away to the treeline.

Clint watched them go, a little miffed Bucky hadn’t introduced him to Steve- but he knew Bucky had been missing his husband something fierce. Clint let it go, they’d get introduced later.

“I don’t suppose there’s some way I can make it up to them, is there?” Clint asked. looking out to the crew, who were collecting everything they’d salvaged into a pathetically small pile.

Sam and Riley shared a look. “Well, there is one thing…”

* * *

Bucky dragged Steve into the trees, and as soon as they were out of sight he turned and ravished Steve’s mouth with desperation. Steve dropped his shield pulled him in close, returning the kiss. It was hot and wet and wanting. Bucky put all his longing and love into it- all his desire and craving.

They shared in the connection, until Steve took over, licking into Bucky’s mouth and forcing him to walk backwards until his back hit a tree. Steve pinned him with his body and shoved his thigh between Bucky’s legs, eliciting a groan as Steve pressed against his hardness.

Steve gripped a handful of Bucky’s hair and pulled his head back, separating their mouths. “Take your shirt off” Steve ordered, backing away slightly to give him space. Bucky complied as fast as he could, pulling his shirt and undershirt off in one move. Or he would’ve if they were dry; instead they caught on his skin and he was trapped longer than he wanted, struggling out of them.

In the time it took to remove the article of clothes, Steve had fallen to his knees and was undoing Bucky’s belt, then yanked his wet pants and underwear off with harsh tugs. Bucky was glad he’d removed his boots once they’d gotten to shore.

Bucky’s cock was fully hard and dripping, had been since seeing Steve dredge through the shallows bare-naked. He’d palmed himself once or twice while watching, something Steve had to have been aware of. Steve’s control had been impeccable however, and he’d stayed soft while in front of all those sailors- a few of which had given Steve an appreciative look. Bucky didn’t blame them.

Steve looked up at Bucky from his kneeling position and frowned. “Are you hurt?” he asked, looking at the shoulder brace.

“No, that’s just… It’s for a different thing, don’t worry about it”

He could tell Steve wanted to know more, but he only nodded. They’d discuss it later. Right now, Steve was in a good position to be doing something _else_ with his mouth, and Bucky smiled eagerly.

But instead of giving his cock any attention, Steve was furiously pulling Bucky’s belt out from his pants, then stood. He held the belt between his teeth while he forcefully turned Bucky around, taking each of Bucky’s arm and holding them together behind his back. He took the belt and tied it securely around Bucky’s wrists, restraining him, and Bucky purred at the feel of it.

“Eager for some play, huh?” Bucky moaned into the bark, excited for the prospect. He thought they’d start simple and desperate like they usually did at their first meetings, saving the slow and delicate play for later, but he wasn’t complaining.

“Four months” Steve snapped, his tone riled. Bucky froze when he realized what Steve was getting on about. He should’ve known it was going to come up.

“About that-” he started.

“ _Four months_ ” Steve ground out, shoving Bucky’s face harder into the tree to shut him up. “Four months of erections in the middle of peace talks. Making me come in my clothes while I’m fighting cultists and warlords. Making me almost come in a _Wyrde’s den_. Making me feel you come for _two hours_ in front of the Asgardian royalty. Waking me up _nightly_ with the feel of whoever you’re fucking. I had to stop masturbating because you were _doing it for me._ I had to wash my underwear daily because you made me _ruin_ them so often” Steve growled, all the while pushing Bucky harder into the bark, touching him nowhere except at his wrists and the back of his neck.

“You’ve been doing nothing but caving to your every whim, so we’re going to run a little exercise in self-restraint. How’s that sound, Buck? Up for learning something?” Steve asked.

Bucky swallowed and nodded. He croaked out a “Yes sir”, licking his lips in anticipation. This wasn’t how he’d pictured Steve bringing up the topic, but he wasn’t complaining.

Steve gripped his shoulders and turned him back around, then pushed Bucky down to his knees. Bucky’s mouth was already watering at the sight of Steve’s fully hard cock at face-level, and he parted his lips in his eagerness, looking up at Steve’s face.

Steve stood over him, towering and in control. The hand that cupped Bucky’s cheek was anything but dismissive though, as he gently ran his fingers along Bucky’s jaw, smoothing his palm tenderly over the skin. Even like this, Steve was loving. Three years apart and he couldn’t be anything else.

He gently guided Bucky’s mouth to his dick.

“Make yourself feel good” Steve said, and he let Bucky take it from there. Bucky grinned, then sucked on the head of Steve’s cock, running his tongue along the slit and moaning as he felt the sensation on his own. He could _feel_ everything he was doing, and the thought of it was heady.

He tongued under the head, then slowly took Steve deeper, moaning as he felt his own mouth along his cock. Steve had told him to make himself feel good, so he did, taking Steve deeper and sucking gently, moving his head back and forth while he groaned again, snapping his hips as he felt the vibrations of his own throat.

He was close, he was _close close close_ , but more importantly, _Steve_ was close- which made it all the more painful when Steve gripped his hair and pulled Bucky off him. Bucky whimpered at the loss, mouth still open for more.

Steve was controlling his breathing, looking down at Bucky with blown pupils and a dangerous smile.

“You’re gonna learn to hold back, Buck. We’re gonna do this as many times as it takes” he said, and Bucky whimpered fearfully this time. He was _so close_ , he couldn’t do it. He _needed_ to come.

And secretly, he needed _Steve_ to come.

“Shh, shh, I’ve got you” Steve assured soothingly, the hand in his hair turning gentle and running along his scalp. “I’ll be right here with you”

Bucky leaned his head against Steve’s hand, panting and tugging idly at the belt on his wrists. His cock was aching already, and they’d only just started, but Steve was here, and that’s all that mattered. Steve was here and loved him.

When Bucky had calmed down, Steve let him take his cock back into his mouth, and Bucky groaned in relief. He closed his eyes blissfully and ran his tongue along the underside of the shaft, shuddering as he felt it on himself. He went faster this time, keyed in to Steve’s pleasure just as it was his own, and in no time he got close again, feeling the pleasure pool in his groin, building higher and higher-

Steve pulled his head back again, and Bucky cried pitifully. He’d been _so close_ , fuck. He tried pushing forward, desperate to get himself off, to get _Steve_ off, but Steve kept a tight grip in his hair, keeping Bucky away from his cock.

“ _Please, please. I can’t_ ”

“Shh, yes you can. You’re doing so well, baby, you’re so good” Steve cooed, running his other hand over Bucky’s cheek, moving down to run soothing circle into the tense muscles at his neck. His eyes had gone gentle now, regarding Bucky with warmth.

Steve repeated the pattern, letting Bucky get them both right at the edge of coming, only to stop, over and over until Bucky lost count, until tears flowed from his eyes and he sobbed when Steve made him stop. Each time, Steve would whisper tenderly, consoling Bucky until his breaths stopped hitching and he calmed, only to repeat it all over again.

Bucky’s cocks was aching in the worst way, dripping so much precome it had slid down his shaft into the dirt. Steve’s cock was just as bad, and Bucky had swallowed more than enough of the stuff, but Steve seemed no worse for wear, breathing hard but smiling benignly.

“How?” Bucky tried to ask, but lost the rest of his words, panting too hard and trembling.

“I got real good at holding back after you made me ruin a mediation. You know some people find an orgasm in the middle of peace talk to be insulting?”

“S-sorry” Bucky said.

“Shh, no, we’ll talk about it after. Right now you’ve been very good, you’ve been so strong, so I’m going to stop now”

It took Bucky a second to process Steve’s words, and his lips trembled as he cried out. “No, _no_ , I’ve been good, _please_ ”

But Steve was getting down on his knees, and he pulled Bucky into his chest, undoing the belt around his wrists. As soon as Bucky was freed he wrapped his arms around Steve and sobbed into his shoulder, quietly begging while Steve held him close and comforted him, whispering assurances into his hair, telling him he’d been good.

He held Bucky like that for what felt like hours, until the trembling stopped and their erections went away.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for _months,_ you jerk” Steve finally admitted.

“Punk” Bucky sniffled, burying his face deeper into Steve’s neck, inhaling his scent. He wanted to _scream_ , Steve had been _so close_.

“You’re one to talk after the trouble you’ve been putting me through”

“It couldn’t have been that bad”

“I was in the middle of a royal dinner while you were having an orgasm for _two hours straight_. I had to sit still and _talk_ through that. What the hell, Buck?”

Bucky grimaced into Steve’s shoulder. “…that was the sex goo” he said quietly, hiding his face in the crook of Steve’s neck.

There was a beat of silence. “Sex goo” Steve said flatly.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like”

“What were you doing with _sex goo?_ ”

Bucky shifted, sitting back on his knees to finally look Steve in the eye.

“So, the thing about all the sex I’ve been having-”

* * *

Natasha sat by the captain and his second mate, watching while the crew piled driftwood and unsalvageable ship scraps into the base of a bonfire.

“Run this ritual by me again” Natasha requested.

“It’s bad luck to be angry at the sea while marooned, so we hold a night of revelry to honour our love of the sea”

“And then you sacrifice someone to the ocean gods?” she asked, looking over to Clint as two crewmen painted his naked form with traditional symbols of fortune and luck. He was talking pleasantly with the two, and Natasha mused how he looked like a sacrificial lamb indeed.

She’d half-listened when Sam had explained what being the sacrifice entailed, and Clint volunteered for the role to get on the good side of the crew. It seemed to be working too, given the sharp decline in angry looks he got.

Riley’s face scrunched. “I wouldn’t call it a _sacrifice_ , exactly. It’s more like how some witches drink wine instead of blood. It’s- what’s the word?”

“Symbolic” Sam answered from behind Riley as he braided the man’s hair.

“Aye, symbolic” Riley nodded. “And nobody wants to be the symbolic sacrifice, no matter how fun it is”

“Why not?”

“S’bad luck”

Natasha hummed, a little relieved her mark wasn’t going to die. It had to have been fate that she’d accepted a job with someone close to her once dearest friend, and even if they weren’t on the best terms, she was happy to see him nonetheless. She’d missed Bucky’s good-natured teasing, even if they came sparse these days.

She was still bitter that he wouldn’t go back with her and annul the marriage. He seemed to think it wasn’t possible, but it was a fucking piece of paper- a little fire and they’d be done with it.

She couldn’t do it herself, loathe as she was to admit it. Getting out of winter elf lands was easy enough, but getting back _in_ was a whole other matter. Getting in with an anti-mage though? Now that was a cakewalk.

And maybe- _maybe_ , she didn’t want to face her old friends and family on her own. All that baggage, the judgment, the looks she’d get…

Not that she cared or anything. If she could be described as a prick, then the rest of the winter elf court was the whole goddamn cactus. What did she care if they thought she was a coward who’d fled in the night?

What did she care?

… Enough to need a friend’s support, it seemed.

She was also too proud to admit any of that to Bucky- so here they were, repeating their old dance.

Clint was starting to grow on her at least. She’d already judged him enough to know wasn’t going to run from the guild, and she was happy that she wouldn’t be forced to kill him. It was fine when it was a client who’d stiffed the workers one too many times, those could rot; but collecting from an unlicensed worker never sat right with her, and she was far more lenient with them.

That was the real reason she’d quit the assassin’s guild- she’d lost the taste for it. As a collection agent, all she had to do was intimidate her marks- easy enough considering her reputation. Rarely did she have to _actually_ kill them, and it was fun being paid to trail someone from the shadows. It kept her skills honed and earned good coin without all the fuss of death.

In all honesty, she hadn’t killed more than a dozen people in her time with the harlot’s guild, and it was very refreshing. Sure, she’d also been sent to take out a cultist conclave or ten, but she didn’t count those. They’d been using fraudulent brothels as covers, and it was practically adventure work.

As a side benefit, she also got to travel and see some great sights- like this semi-tropical island, and the well-muscled sailors on it. She observed a crewman repairing a broken belt for her strap-on, and caught the woman’s eye. The sailor winked at Natasha and grinned, then went back to her task.

“So is this ritual for the crew only, or can anyone join?” she asked, eyeing the shirtless crewman as she worked, admiring her toned back and arms.

“The more the merrier” Sam replied.

Natasha grinned. Never had she regretted taking a job less.

* * *

Steve sat against a tree, Bucky leaning back against his chest. He rubbed circles with his thumb along Bucky’s thigh, thinking over what his husband just told him.

“And this alchemist was certain it had to do with our soul-bond?” he asked.

Bucky made an affirmative sound. “Says it yanks on me every time it’s used, causes the bleeding”

Steve frowned. “Maybe we should cut down on sex for a while”

“You mean _I_ should” Bucky drawled.

“Just until we can sort this out. I hate knowing what we have is hurting you” Steve said, laying a kiss on Bucky’s bared shoulder, right above the mark. He ran a thumb across the skin, watching flecks of old, dried blood fall away.

“It doesn’t hurt though, it’s more irritating than anything. And it’s barely any blood, I only got woozy after the sex goo”

“That’s not as comforting as you think”

Bucky huffed, and Steve could _feel_ him rolling his eyes. “I’m looking into it. I’ll get a better specialist and find a way to get rid of it” he said, then paused. “You could come with me?”

Steve sighed sadly, pulling Bucky closer. He felt Bucky hunch in disappointment without even needing hear Steve’s words.

“You can’t” Bucky said. It wasn’t a question.

“It’s not that I don’t want to-”

“But you’re in the middle of a Crusade” Bucky finished for him.

“Yeah” Steve confirmed.

“Is it world ending?”

“Potentially”

Bucky crossed his arms, sinking down on himself. “I’m sorry” Steve said softly.

“It’s fine”

“It’s not”

“I know your duty comes first”

“That doesn’t mean you’re not important” Steve said, squeezing his arms around Bucky.

“It’s- we talked about this when we courted. I knew what we’d have going into this”

“It doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt” Steve said gently.

Bucky kept his face turned away. “I’ll get over it”

Steve rested his cheek against Bucky’s hair. “At least tell me you have someone with you”

“There’s this guy, Clint. We’ve been casual for a few years, and he’s been really great. He’s here actually- we’re traveling together. You probably didn’t get a good look at him, but he was standing by the captain” he said.

“The one Nat didn’t grab the gold for?”

“That’s the one. He’s, uh, also the one who introduced me to the sex goo alchemist” he added.

Steve didn’t comment on that. “Is he good to you?” he asked instead.

“He’s the best” Bucky said wistfully. “He didn’t freak out about my mark either, actually offered to help me find a cure. He’s a good guy, tries his best to be”

“Sounds like someone I’d like” Steve chuckled. He smiled, glad Bucky had found someone again. Fifty years ago, after a Crusade against a demonic incursion, he’d come back to find Bucky had been drifting through the lands for _six years_ with nothing more than casual hook-ups and brief stints with other mercenaries as his company. He hadn’t had a friend to his name.

By the time Steve had come back to him, he’d been morose and dispirited, and Steve had made him promise to look for someone, _anyone_ , for companionship after that. A friend, a lover, a pet; anything, as long as he wasn’t alone. It killed Steve to leave his husband like that, and he needed to know Bucky had support when he was gone. He was a lone-wolf by bad habit, but he needed more than one person in his life.

“You’d really like him, he’s got this- this _kindness_ to him, even when he’s grumpy. I don’t know how to explain it, but he doesn’t judge people, he’s just so _open_ to everything. And he’s so _skill_ _ed_. He’s the best ranger in the land, almost as good as the forest elves in _Y_ _ö_ _l_ _á_ _ndor_ , but he’s real humble about it. He just knows what he can do and does it. Not often though”

Bucky shifted. “Guy’s got a thing against adventure work- but he’ll do it at the drop of a hat for anyone that really needs it. I can’t tell you how many lost pets he finds, and when a kid goes missing in the woods, he’s all over that. Refuses any payment”

Steve’s heart swelled at the description; Clint sounded perfect for Bucky. Much better than Bucky’s last companion, who Steve didn’t even want to think about.

“You wanna meet him?” Bucky asked, craning his neck to look back at Steve. The setting sun painted his pale skin gold, and it made the reserved eagerness look innocent on him. Whoever this Clint was, Bucky really liked him, and wanted Steve to like him too.

“Yeah” Steve answered easily. He did want to meet him.

* * *

“So which one is Clint again?” Steve asked.

Bucky stood next to him, hands on his hips and a frown on his face. He’d put his damp pants and shoulder brace back on, and Steve was currently using his shirt as a sarong. He regarded the orgy in front of them, the entirety of the crew fucking around a huge bonfire. It had turned dark, and the beach was illuminated by the massive flames.

Bucky sighed. This wasn’t how he pictured Steve’s introduction to Clint. Reluctantly, he pointed out his friend.

“The one on the effigy” Bucky said.

“The one getting-”

“Yeah” Bucky sighed, “The one getting spit-roasted”

Spit-roast was an understatement. Clint was tied securely to a log that was carved to vaguely resemble a ship. He was face-up to the stars, his arms tied to his side and his legs tied to keep them spread. It looked like he’d had glyphs painted on him at some point, but they’d long been smudged by the multitude of groping hands.

People were taking turns with him, coming in his mouth or ass or on his cock, then quickly switching out with someone else. Right now he had a sailor riding his face having the time of her life, while another fucked his ass with abandon.

And Clint- well, he was a picture. He eyes had rolled up in his head, and a line of cum, slick, and drool ran down his face, coating his cheeks and throat. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed convulsively, while his chest rose and fell in heaving gasps.

His cock was wet and shiny with whatever body fluids had coated it throughout the evening, though right now it bobbed freely. Bucky spied a leather tie around the base that acted as a cockring, keeping him hard for whoever wanted a turn to ride. He was debauched and wrecked, lost in the endless stream of sex.

This was Steve’s first impression of him.

“He does seem open” Steve finally commented. Bucky wanted to hit Clint.

“Oh hey, Nat’s here too” he then noted. Bucky looked, and huh, so she was. She was with five other women in the middle of some kind of oral conga line, her face buried between a pair of muscled thighs while another sailor returned the favour.

Bucky didn’t linger on the sight, pulled instead to a male version of the same thing on the opposite side of the fire. If there was one thing the sailors weren’t lacking in, it was their hard-earned muscle, and Bucky licked his lips. That looked _very_ nice, and his stirring cock agreed.

“Seriously?” Steve asked, looking at him with exasperation.

“What? You’re telling me you don’t wanna be part of this?” Bucky retorted, waving his hand at the display in front of them.

“We just had sex”

“That was a cocktease _at best_ ” Bucky groused.

Steve crossed his arms. “Bucky, you’ve been giving me blueballs at least four times a week, I’m not going to feel sorry for you”

Bucky had the sense to look a little contrite- but still, it was an orgy, and he wanted in on it. “Come on, Stevie. Don’t you wanna be part of the orgy?” he asked.

It went unsaid that if Steve didn’t join, he’d still end up being part of the orgy vicariously through Bucky.

Steve looked back at the throng of people moaning and undulating amongst each other, but Bucky saw he didn’t hold much interest. Then Steve looked back to Bucky and seemed to read something in his expression, and his eyes traveled down Bucky’s chest. A small grin grew on his face that spelled trouble, “Only if I can stick with you” he said, and there was definitely something more to that, but Bucky didn’t care.

He smiled wide, excited. An orgy _with_ his husband? Maybe now he’d _finally_ get Steve to orgasm. Bucky was living the dream.

* * *

Natasha was living the dream. She had not one but _three_ handsome women pleasuring her.

“Never fucked an elf before” the one riding Natasha’s mouth said, either Darcy or one of the two who happened to both be named Elise- she’d lost track of who was named what.

“I hear their eyes glow when they come” the one sucking at her tits said.

“You think the sky’s just another ocean, what do you know about elves?” face-rider retorted.

There was a humming noise of agreement from the one licking into Natasha’s cunt, though who she agreed with was anybody’s guess.

“Oh shut it Darce, you don’t know either!” tit-licker shot back. Natasha pieced together face-rider must be Darcy, and the other two Elise by elimination. She tried to keep that fact in mind as she ran her tongue slowly back and forth while Darcy rode her mouth in quick and short grinding motions. Both of Natasha’s arms was curled over Darcy’s thigh to keep her balanced on her face.

“How about we finds out? Ey, Lis! How’s it coming down there?” Darcy called back, craning her neck around. It gave Natasha a lovely view of her one pierced breast, the other gone from some accident based on the scarring, though they were hard to make out under the shark tattoo on her chest.

Another hum came from between Natasha’s legs, and she went cross-eyed as the vibrations played against her clit. Lis had Natasha’s clit between her lips, and was curling two finger inside her, hitting her sweet spot with confident strokes. Natasha couldn’t stop trying to grind into the feeling, except she couldn’t because the other Elise was sitting astride her hips while she played with Natasha’s chest. She pulled a nipple into her mouth and suckled while her hand massaged the other breast, sending electric pulses of pleasure into her cunt.

Meanwhile, Darcy kept filling her mouth with a delicious taste she couldn’t get enough of. Hot pleasure unfurled in her core, and she was about to sorely disappoint these sailors.

Then Lis added a third finger and pressed hard on Natasha’s g-spot while she swirled her tongue in quick circles around her clit, and Natasha peaked, her back arching as she silently came, breathing fast through her nose while her feet dug into the sand trying to grind down into Lis’ mouth. Elise whooped as Natasha managed to bucked under her.

A hand fell on her face and lifted her one eyelid up, Darcy’s face peering down at her curiously as she came.

Natasha fell back into the sand, with only enough energy to lazily run her tongue along Darcy’s slit as the sailor slowed her grinding.

“ _Hmm_ , nope. No glowy eyes” Darcy called, and Natasha heard Elise mutter under her breath.

Both Elise and Lis pulled off her, and she heard them say something among themselves, their words quickly turning to moans. Natasha tapped Darcy’s thigh, and the sailor lifted off her.

“Had enough- _oof!_ ” she started to ask, but lost her breath as Natasha twisted them around, throwing Darcy to the ground and planting herself between her legs.

“I’m just getting started” Natasha grinned, and spread Darcy open with her fingers as she brought her face back down to properly eat her out. She spread her tongue flat and licked slowly from bottom to top, then- for the hell of it- started spelling out the letters for ‘cunnilingus’ in the elvish alphabet over Darcy’s clit. The sailor growled above her, and she felt her hand grab a fistful of hair, using it to push Natasha’s face deeper.

Not one to deny a lady, Natasha applied more pressure, then pushed a finger into her, rubbing her walls slowly to tease. If the growl she got was any indicator, she’d succeeded.

Natasha felt an inquiring hand on her ass and glanced back, then waved the orgy-goer along. This ride was women-only, he’d have to get his dick wet somewhere else.

“Ye sure? I can use me mouth only if’n it’s preferred” he offered, but she just waved him off again.

“Go find the other elf if you’re lookin’ for ass” Darcy told him.

“His arse is already taken though, his fella’s been hoggin’ it fer _hours_ ”

Natasha had been tuning the conversation out, but the last bit caught her curiosity. It sounded like Steve was absolutely _torturing_ Bucky. She had to see this.

She pulled away from Darcy, a thin trail of spit and slick following her lips. “Where’s this?” she asked the other sailor.

“Over yon” he pointed, and she followed his finger to where Bucky and Steve were fucking. Steve had Bucky on all-fours, slowly thrusting into him while Bucky sucked someone off.

“You’re going?” Darcy asked, sitting back on her elbows.

“No, just relocating” Natasha said offhandedly. She stood, grabbing each of the sailor’s ankles in her hands and started dragging her through the sand towards her husband, ignoring the sudden curses Darcy was exclaiming at the unexpected movement. She dropped her legs when they arrived, and dug herself a new spot back between the sailor’s legs.

Darcy kept cursing at her, but they turned into hissed growls when Natasha thrust two fingers into her and curled them along her g-spot, feeling her walls pulse from the sudden pleasure. She gave Darcy a few teasing licks, then pulled away to greet her husband’s husband.

“Hi Steve” she said conversationally.

“Oh, hey Nat” Steve said, just as conversationally, if a little winded.

“I hate that you’re both friends” Bucky gruffly, pulling off the spent cock that had been choking him.

“We have a lot in common” Steve shrugged, smiling at Natasha knowingly. Natasha returned it while she licked long stripes across Darcy’s clit. “I heard Steve was messing with you and had to see for myself” she said between licks.

Bucky grunted. “Made me come three times already, but he hasn’t come _once_ and I can _feel that_ and it’s driving me _nuts_ ” Bucky hissed as Steve kept driving into him at a steady pace.

“Four months, Buck” Steve chided, unbothered by his husband’s whines.

“I have a condition!”

“And you couldn’t jack off real quick to relive yourself? Had to spend _hours_ getting fucked every night? I was in different times zones, I felt some of those while eating lunch”

“And that’s my fault?” Bucky whined.

“Yes” Steve said, giving an extra hard thrust and making Bucky keen. Natasha held back a laugh at watching Bucky suffer like this- it was hilarious.

While the conversation played on, Natasha worked her fingers in, stretching Darcy wider until she could slide the three fingers in. The sailor hissed another litany of curses, her hips thrusting in time with Natasha’s fingers.

Once Darcy adjusted, Natasha curled her finders in and pressed in pulses, while at the same time she gently took the crewman’s clit between her lips and sucked.

Darcy snarled and clamped her thighs together, trapping Natasha between them and muffling any sound. She was suddenly smothered and unable to breath- and very content with that. Natasha smiled while she sucked, feeling Darcy start to shudder around her. She bucked her hips, and Natasha laid into her _hard_ , riding her through her orgasm.

Darcy’s thrusts slowed, and a moment later her legs fell open. Natasha planted a final wet kiss on her cunt as she pulled her fingers away, then rested her head on the sailor’s thigh while she caught her breath. Natasha turned back to Steve.

While she’d been rocking Darcy’s world, another sailor had come up and claimed Bucky’s mouth, occupying him so he couldn’t speak. Excellent.

“So I guess you know about his mark now, huh?” she asked. She saw Bucky glare at her from the corner of his eye, but Steve had a hand in his hair keeping his face speared along the newcomers cock and unable to retort.

“Yeah, Bucky explained” Steve said.

“And how’re you holding up?

Steve frowned. “I’m fine physically, the mark doesn’t do anything on my end besides make me feel Bucky come six times a day, _minimum_ ” he pointedly tugged Bucky’s hair at that, getting a grunt in return. “But honestly, I’m worried. He says it’s fine, but he losing blood every time, and his appetite just keeps growing. What happens when he’s coming every hour of the day? How much blood will he start to lose?”

Bucky made a dismissive sound, and Steve tugged again, thrusting hard. “Don’t say it’s nothing, Buck, this is serious”

Natasha frowned, thinking back to the soaked pile of towels in the alchemist’s shop. Steve brought up a good point- what would happen if this went on?

“I happen to be traveling in the same direction for a job, but I think I’ll take leave and stick around after that”

Bucky made an affronted sound, and Steve tugged his hair again. “Hey, don’t be a jerk! She’s offering you help” Steve paused his movements and ran a gentle hand over Bucky’s shoulder. “I hate that I can’t go with you,” he said quietly, “so could you let her be there in my place? Please Bucky?”

Bucky was quiet, and even the sailor who’d been fucking his mouth paused awkwardly, looking uncomfortably between him and Steve. Then Bucky sighed and made a noise of reluctant agreement, and Steve smiled.

“Thanks pal. Tell you what, how about I actually finish for you, how’s that sound?” Bucky made a much more agreeable noise in response, smiling and nodding his head the best he could.

Natasha sighed and turned away. It wasn’t fun when Bucky wasn’t being messed with anymore.

The timing was convenient though, because Darcy had recovered from her orgasm, and she’d decided to return the favour. She hauled Natasha up her body, manhandling her until Natasha was suddenly lying with her back to the sailor’s chest in a headlock. Darcy’s arms had snaked up around her armpits and back around her head, keeping her immobile.

Natasha could’ve broken the hold, but Darcy didn’t have her tight, so she let it be.

“Up for another round?” she asked wolfishly into Natasha’s ear.

“Always” she smiled, spreading her legs a little wider.

Darcy released the hold and wrapped one arm around Natasha’s chest to keep her steady, while the other snaked down between her legs. As she ran her fingers teasingly along Natasha’s slit, Darcy leaned into her ear again.

“There’s another rumour I heard about elves, was hopin’ to test for myself” she said teasingly, and Natasha smiled.

“You know, I could just _tell_ you if its true or not”

“Yeah, but that’s not as fun” Darcy chuckled.

“Can you tell me what this rumour is at least? I promise I won’t give away the surprise” Natasha said coyly.

“Mm” she hummed, rubbing her cheek along the side of Natasha’s face. “You elves have the cutest ears, s’very long. Some say they’re sensitive”

Natasha chuckled, “So our hearing’s better because the ends are pointed?”

“Didn’t say your hearin’s good” Darcy smiled, and ran her lips over the shell of Natasha’s ear.

Natasha suddenly stiffened realizing what rumour she might be referring to, and her eyes widened. “Wait-” she started to say, but it was all she got out before Darcy bit down on the pointed end of her ear.

A jolt of molten pleasure shot from her ear down her spine directly into her core, and a sudden orgasm ripped through her violently. She sucked in a deep breath to scream, but she never heard it as the world went white around her.

* * *

Natasha cried out sharply, and Steve turned to see the sailor she’d been with biting down on her ear. He winced in sympathy. That was somewhat unfortunate, but not like she had plans for tomorrow. Her cries subsided as she fell limp on the self-satisfied sailor.

Below him Bucky snorted, trying to snicker around the dick in his mouth. The act made the sailor he was sucking shoot off with a low groan. Bucky shoved him away after he finished, but then he lost his balance and fell face-first into the sand, still laughing.

“Serves her right!” he said, spitting out sand. His laughter cut off into a moan from the sudden angle change, causing Steve to hit his prostate. Steve grunted low in his throat, feeling the pleasure echoed in his own body. The feel of his own cock stretching his ass was a novelty still, even after all these decades. Paired with the sparks running down his scalp and neck from how he pulled Bucky’s hair and the hard pleasure of Bucky on his cock, he could tell Bucky was getting close by the feel of it all.

He readjusted to aim _away_ from Bucky’s prostate, and his husband returned to his laughter when the pleasure became less overwhelming. Steve sighed; sometimes he just didn’t get what was happening between Bucky and Nat. The term _frenemies_ came to mind, both of them somehow resentful _and_ friendly to each other, in a hostile sort of way. They cared when it mattered though.

“What are you laughing at?” the sailor holding Natasha asked, eyeing him narrowly.

“You just fucked up her night!” Bucky said between a half-moan and half-chortle.

“Did I?”

Bucky nodded, “She’s not waking from that for _hours_ ” he beamed.

She looked down at Natasha, then back up to Bucky, and a mischievous gleam had suddenly appeared in her eye. “Reckon it’s the same for you then, huh?”

Both Steve and Bucky froze at her words, and before Steve could pull them back, the sailor lunged. She clamped her teeth down on Bucky’s ear, and Steve fell forward with the force of the orgasm that crashed through Bucky like a tidal wave.

Steve cried out as he came, snapping his hips into Bucky’s ass as deep as he could and holding him fast. He hugged Bucky close, his forehead resting at the space between Bucky’s shoulder blades.

His eyes were closed tight as he ground his cock into Bucky, his body taut and held stiff, grunting through his release. He could barely feel his own orgasm as Bucky’s whited out everything except for his fierce euphoria. The pleasure was all-encompassing, running down his spine and pulsing through his muscles, blurring the sense of body until all they could do was float in an intensity ecstasy.

Under him Bucky was screaming and quaking, and it was only Steve’s hold that kept him from thrashing to the ground.

The overpowering pleasure started to fade, and Steve loosened slightly, keeping his hold on Bucky secure as the man went limp underneath him.

The sailor was cackling beside them, Natasha’s prone body still lying half on her, the rest flopped on the sand.

“Ha! Fuckin’ elves man- they don’t disappoint!” she laughed harshly.

Steve shot her an irritated look, then looked down at his husband and frowned. Like Natasha, Bucky had passed out, and he wouldn’t be roused by anything but time. There was a reason ear-biting was kept quiet among elves, Bucky hadn’t even told him about it until five years after their marriage.

Steve pulled out and gently lay Bucky in the sand. Around them the orgy went on, but for the three of them it had ended.

With an irritated breath directed at the sailor, Steve scooped up his husband, tossing him over one shoulder, then bent to grab Natasha, hoisting her on the other. The sailor was still cackling as he put distance between them.

He carried them away from the bonfire, taking them back to the treeline where he’d spotted some of the crew making bedding areas for later. All were empty, and he took the one farthest from the center to afford them some space. He placed the two gently down on the bedding side-by-side, then softly moved Bucky’s hair out of his face, running a hand over his husband’s cheek to brush off the sand that had stuck there.

He unclasped the brace on Bucky’s shoulder, frowning at the blood that coated his skin. He used a nearby scrap of cloth to wipe it off the best he could, then refastened the covering. If Steve knew anything about sailors, it was that they were a suspicious folk, and it would be better for everyone to keep Bucky’s mark inconspicuous.

He sat down against a nearby tree, letting his foot lean against Bucky’s arm. He sighed as his head fell back, gazing up at the stars. His mind wandered to Hydra, and what he should do once he got off this island. There were so many avenues to pursue, he’d need to narrow it down. Maybe he should consult a seer?

While Steve lost himself in thought, he didn’t notice the creeping vines crawling along the ground, slowly and silently approaching the two sleeping elves.


	7. Chapter 7

_Voices echoed in a cave as light rippled along the ceiling, shining up from a glowing pool. Except the pool wasn’t glowing; it was the jellyfish that shed light._

_The cave was huge, yet somehow small, like the walls were bearing down with insurmountable pressure. Like they were at the bottom of the sea. The voices echoed louder, talking over each other, and only snippets could be heard._

“ _children run amok-”_

“ _sews chaos in his followers-”_

“ _to do with them-”_

“ _will never succeed-”_

“ _don’t know that-”_

“ _We have a guest-”_

_The echoes started to shush each other, dying down until the cacophony turned silent but for a handful of voices, easier to hear without the rest of the noise._

“ _What is it?”_

“ _He is a false sacrifice”_

“ _Gross”_

“ _Then why is it here?”_

“ _Does it matter?”_

“ _It can listen to us”_

“ _I don’t think he is awake”_

“ _Then he is no threat”_

“ _We waste time on this, the real danger draws near”_

“ _He has already found anchor to this world”_

“ _The anchor sinks yet, it hasn’t found purchase”_

“ _But it will soon, the deep is not endless”_

“ _All will be nothing”_

“ _It’s still listening”_

“ _Can somebody get that thing out of here?”_

“ _It’s freaking me out”_

“ _I’ll deal with him”_

“ _No don’t touch it!”_

Clint blinked open his eyes, squinting at the sunlight that shined directly into his eyes from a break in the canopy. He grimaced as he smacked his tongue. His mouth tasted like _ass_ , in a bad way.

He groaned and turned over, looking around. He was in the middle of a huge pile of sailors, their naked bodies packed tightly as they slept. He raised his head and saw they were in the treeline, the orgy having concluded some time in the night and the crew migrating to their makeshift bedding area to sleep the rest of the night away. And most of the morning, if the sun’s position was anything to judge by. It couldn’t be earlier than ten.

Someone must have carried him here, because he didn’t remember the orgy ending. He remembered it _starting_ , but it turned hazy somewhere in the middle, and the rest was completely gone from his mind. Had they moved to a cave at some point? The image of jellyfish floated in his mind.

He shrugged it off and stood, making his way out of the pile. He wasn’t the first one up, and a few other crew members were milling around, harvesting fruit for themselves. Clint grabbed… something that looked like a cross between a banana and coconut. Bananut? Coconana?

Whatever, the soft inside tasted like sweetened grapes and abated his hunger. He chewed while surveying the beach, spotting his clothes still hanging where he’d left them, now completely dry. He walked into the shallows for a quick dip, rinsing off the sticky mess of last night.

As he dried in the sun, he sent mental ping and he received a tired reply from Lucky. He was still soaked in a freshwater pool to clear out all the salt that had soaked him yesterday. Poor guy would be laid up another day at least.

Once dried and dressed, he returned to the treeline and searched the pile of sleeping forms for Bucky and co., but came up empty. He widened his search and came upon Steve, who’d fallen asleep sitting up.

He was still dressed with only Bucky’s shirt wrapped around his waist, and Clint let himself get an eyeful of the man’s fit form.

He didn’t have a particular type- muscled or fat or thin as a twig, it was all good- but he had to admit, Bucky’s husband painted a pretty picture.

Clint wondered if Steve would be open to sleeping with him, or if he and Bucky had some kind of separation with their side partners. He hoped not, because a threesome with Bucky and Steve sounded _fun_. Steve was well-muscled and easily strong enough to hold Clint off the ground, maybe with a hand under each thigh keeping them open while Bucky fucked into him from the front-

Steve twitched awake with a snort, eye opening wide as he took in where he was before relaxing just as quick. He blinked to clear his eyes and cursed under his breath.

“Rough night?” Clint asked. He looked tired still.

“No, but I was supposed to be keeping watch. What time’s it?”

Clint quickly glanced at the position of the sun, “I’d guess around eleven, but definitely before noon”

Steve hummed, then looked over to the empty pile of leaves beside him and froze. “Shit” he cursed, standing quick.

“What’s up?”

“My husband and friend were sleeping here, they shouldn’t be gone” he said with worry.

“Bucky and Natasha?”

Steve looked at him in confusion before recognition illuminated on his face. “Oh, Clint! Sorry, we didn’t get to meet properly, it took me a second to place you” he said, reaching a hand out.

“No worries” he dismissed, taking Steve’s hand to shake, then he looked down at the empty bedding. “You were saying they shouldn’t be gone?”

Steve nodded. “Yeah, Natasha got her ear bit,” Clint winced, that was unfortunate, “and the asshole got Bucky’s ear too before I could stop her”

Clint frowned, double-checking the sun’s position. “Yeah, they wouldn’t be up and walking for a few hours yet”

“Exactly” Steve agreed.

Clint crouched down by the bedding, touching it. It was cool from the shade- definitely not a recent move. He scanned the ground, the area a mix of dirt and sand as the beach transitioned to forest. He squinted at the markings leading deeper inland and followed, noting little scratches and trails. The parted grass, the inward disturbed shrubbery. A stray hair caught on a twig.

A lack of footprints.

Clint touched the ground, frowning seriously, “They were dragged into the bush”

Steve stood next to him, peering into the trees that were thick and unwelcoming. Clint recognized this kind of hostility, and his frown deepened. This would be tricky.

“Someone from camp?” Steve asked.

“No, they came from the forest”

“Can you track where they were taken?”

“Yes, but there’s a bigger problem than just finding them”

Steve looked down, waiting for him to go on. “There’s forest spirits here, and I’d bet the clothes off my back they’re the ones that took ‘em. They’re isolated from the land, so they’ll be more unpredictable"

Steve looked back to the forest assessingly. “Can you speak with them?”

“I can try, but first we need to see if anyone else is missing, and warn the rest away. We don’t need more people getting taken”

Steve nodded, moving back to the beach. “I’ll go find the Captain and get him to do a roll call, you get the word around in the meantime. We’ll go from there”

Clint gave his assent, standing as well. He cast one more look into the forest, feeling the spirit’s eyes on him. Whatever reason they’d taken their people, Clint hoped it was benign, but the anger he felt off the trees spoke otherwise.

Worse was the fact that this had been planned. He’d been here yesterday, and he hadn’t felt a whiff of hostility in these plants. They’d kept it hidden, waiting to strike in the night.

It didn’t bode well.

* * *

“Good news is: nobody else was taken” Clint said, whittling a stick into a crude arrow.

“Bad news?”

“Bucky and Natasha were taken”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “We already knew that”

“Yeah, but I didn’t really have anything new to say” Clint shrugged, adding the arrow to his pile.

“So you’re going to talk with the spirits and convince them to give the two back?”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything. We might have to take them by force if it comes to it” Clint hoped it didn’t come to that.

“Will that be an issue?”

Clint shrugged again, “Insomuch as fighting any other beast. They’ll have physical form with a little magic, and they’ll stay dead at least a day”

Steve nodded, looking out to the sailor’s who’d migrated to beach, away from the trees.

“Think they’ll help?”

Clint looked out and shrugged. “They’ve got no reason to”

“Do you think we’d be better off with their help though?”

Clint thought about it. If Steve was half the fighter Bucky said he was, the two of them should be able to handle it on their own. The isolation from the mainland may have made these spirits more finicky, but it also made them weak.

“I wouldn’t say it’s _needed_ , but they won’t be a hindrance so long as they can fight roughly a bear’s worth of strength”

“Roughly?”

“I’m not taking anyone with us who can’t fight a bear; this ain’t a babysitting gig” Clint grunted.

Steve looked over at the sailors and frowned again, muttering “Not sure any of them have even _seen_ a bear”, to which Clint could only shrug. It looked like it would be just the two of them.

Steve seemed to come to the same conclusion, and he left Clint to finish his arrows while he went over their weapons in silence.

Clint had already made a bow, something that Steve had been impressed by when he’d had it carved and strung in under an hour. To Clint it wasn’t especially impressive- the work was shoddy and it wouldn’t last the day, but it would suffice for an emergency. A shitty bow was better than nothing.

Not that they were weaponless. They’d gotten a decent pull from the crew, most of whom had some form of weapon securely strapped to them when the ship went down. Some sweet talk from Clint had gotten him and Steve a cutlass each, and more knives than they’d ever need. Steve also had his shield.

No ranged weapons though- hence Clint having to make his own.

They were also lacking in armor. Clint only had the clothes on his back- but Steve was worse off by far. None of the crew his size would lend him anything, and Bucky’s clothes were too slim, effective only as wraps around his waist.

Clint hoped this preparation was for nothing and they could simply talk it out with the spirits, but he hadn’t survived this long by being unprepared.

He finished his ammunition in another ten minutes, tucking them into his belt, which was acting as a shitty quiver. He _really_ needed to buy an enchanted one, something that never emptied and never got lost. He made a mental note to save up in the future.

With the two of them as prepared as they were going to get, they made their leave of the sailors, delving into the woods. Clint took lead with Steve close behind, both on high alert, following the trail left behind from Bucky and Natasha’s dragged bodies. The spirits hadn’t even bothered to hide the tracks- until they suddenly did.

The trail took them to a large oak tree, where it ended abruptly. Clint held out his hand for Steve to stay behind him, then spoke aloud in the forest speech.

“ _Spirits of the forest, we come bearing no ill-will. Our friends have been borrowed, and we desire their return_ ”

The bark slowly shifted, until the distended face of a weasel glared back at him.

“ _You bring evil with you to this forest, and we will not return what is yours until it is killed_ ” the spirit replied.

Oh, that was rich. That was just fucking rich. Clint had to turn to hide the face he made at that, though Steve got a good look at it. Clint distastefully mouthed ‘ _slay quest_ ’, and Steve’s face turned resigned.

A fucking _slay quest._ What was he, a freelance adventurer? A knight errant of the woods? He couldn’t just be shipwrecked in peace? _Fuck._

He wiped the peeved look from his face and turned back to the spirit. “ _We will right this wrong, for it was not our intent or in our knowledge that we brought such evil. Where can we find this being, and what of its nature?_ ”

The spirit hissed, “ _You will find it, you will make it no more, and only then will we return what is yours_ ” it said, then it melded back into the tree.

Clint looked down and put his hands on his hips, tempering his frustration. These spirits were _dicks_.

“What did they say?” Steve asked.

“They say we brought an evil with us and we gotta kill it”

“Did we?”

“ _No_ , we sure as fuck did not. I’m guessing it’s a wandering monster they don’t like, blaming us is just _oh so convenient_ ”

“Any information on the monster?”

“Not even a hint”

Steve nodded like it was expected. “They’ll return Buck and Nat, though? Unharmed?”

“Yeah, they’re just holding them as incentive”

“More like hostage” Steve muttered,

“Let’s just get this over with” Clint said, moving deeper into the trees and starting the hunt.

He usually enjoyed tracking, but it was feeling like a slog knowing that’s he’d have to fight the thing that he found. No doubt it would be a pain in the ass.

Speaking of, Bucky and Natasha ought to be waking up by now, and he wondered what kind of imprisonment the spirits had them confined in. Something comfortable hopefully, or he’d never hear the end of it.

* * *

Bucky felt a body spooned in front of him and sighed pleasantly.

_Steve_ , he thought warmly, pulling him close. His cock slotted nicely against his plump ass-

Plump ass? Steve had many things, but an ass was not one of them. Clint then- he had a nice ass. Bucky snuggled in, nosing at Clint’s neck- except there was hair there, much longer than what Clint had and smelling different but familiar. The body against him mumbled sleepily, shifting enough to pull away, and Bucky reached out to pull him back, feeling his breasts brush against his arm-

_Breasts?_

Bucky’s eyes shot open, seeing an eyeful of red hair, and in his shock he shoved the body away. There was a surprised shout that ended with a sudden thump.

He peered over the edge of the bed to see Natasha sprawled on the floor, looking up at him wide-eyed. Her expression quickly morphed into agitation.

“Ass _. Hole_ ” she swore pointedly, and Bucky accepted that he deserved that one.

He looked past Natasha and froze, seeing that they weren’t on the beach anymore. They weren’t even _outside_.

“Uhh, Nat? You remember how we got here?” he asked, taking in the space. They’d been squeezed together on a small mattress in a room _packed_ with junk. There were rugs layered on top of each other on both the floor _and_ walls, and piles of discarded clothes, driftwood, metal bits, papers, and a whole slew of other odds and ends nearly everywhere. The only cleared space was a narrow area around the bed and a path leading to an open doorway, the only exit from the little junkyard they found themselves in.

“No idea” Natasha said as she also looked around curiously.

They both turned to the doorway when a loud _clang!_ sounded, like pots and pans hitting each other, and a voice cursed indistinctly. Natasha grabbed a piece of broken glass from the piles around them, and Bucky summoned a dagger in his hand. They both crept to the door and peered through.

The next room was less packed, with actual shelves acting as a poor excuse for organization. The space had a vague kitchen feel to it with the rotted table and chair in the center, one end piled with half-cut vegetables and meats.

On the other end of the room was a boiling cauldron, where a woman in red robes stood, facing away. She was using two ladles to try to fish something out of the boiling liquid.

He and Natasha shared a look, and in silent agreement, Bucky went out first. He sent the knife away, ready to call it back at a moment’s notice. He got halfway into the room and cleared his throat.

“Oh!” the woman exclaimed, dropping one of the ladles into the cauldron in her surprise. She turned around quickly, gripping a hand to her chest. When she saw Bucky, she dropped her hand and tisked.

“Do not sneak up like that!” she admonished in an accented voice, turning back around to the cauldron and cursing again when she realized she’d lost one of her ladles. “Now you have made me drop another thing in this damned pot” she muttered, grabbing for _another_ ladle from a rack that held an assortment of stirring utensils.

Bucky, though, flinched away, knife summoned back in his hand as he covered his eyes quickly.

_Medusa!_ was all he could think, the image of a dozen red snakes coiled around her head burned in the back of his eyes. He’d looked right at her, and it took a moment to realize his frozen state was just his own shock. She hadn’t turned him to stone- yet.

He heard another tisk in front of him. “I will not turn you to stone, uncover your eyes” she said with exasperation.

“I’m fine like this, thanks” he choked out, keeping his arm over his eyes, but peeking down at his knife where he could see her through the blade’s reflection.

“I cannot turn you to stone, you are in no danger of this”

“Uh-huh” Bucky said disbelievingly.

“And why would we believe you?” Natasha asked, appearing beside him suddenly. He couldn’t see her face, but he’d guess she had her eyes averted too.

The woman scoffed again. “ _One_ gorgon gets power to turn people to stone, and suddenly _all_ gorgons are expected to have power. This- _this_ is why I come to island. Everywhere I go, nobody looks at me, adventurers try to cut my head off. All because of Medusa!” she hissed, managing to pull out her pan and slamming in back into the pile of other pans on the shelf.

“You’re not a Medusa?”

“I am _gorgon_! Medusa is name of _one_ gorgon, not all of us! I am Wanda and also gorgon, but not Medusa. We are not born with stone eyes!” she snapped.

Bucky peeked out from the top of his arm hesitantly, looking at her. She’d turned back around and was standing with her arms crossed impatiently. The snakes around her head had flattened back in annoyance.

When he didn’t feel himself stiffen, he uncovered his gaze completely. Beside him, Natasha did the same.

“ _Thank_ you” Wanda said pointedly. She turned back around to fish out the remaining ladle in the pot.

Bucky looked to Natasha. _Now what?_

She shrugged unhelpfully, then looked down at herself. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have some spare clothes, would you?”

“Yes, but only to lend, I don’t get many items here. I expect my clothes returned before you leave”

“So we can leave?” Bucky asked.

“You can try, but spirits will drag you back. They send your friends on errand, they say they trade you back in exchange” Wanda said offhandedly.

“So we’re prisoners here” Natasha stated.

“Yes, but I am not jailer. Spirits are assholes, expect me to babysit- _pfah_ , fuck them. Go if you want, but they will only bring you back until your friends kill the _plantă impudentă_ ”

“Will it take them long?”

Wanda shrugged. “One of them is skilled ranger, other is phoenix. If first does not kill it, other will die and have it gone anyway”

Natasha nodded. “Then we’ll wait here with you” she said, reaching into a pile of scraps and pulling out a large shirt.

Bucky raised a brow to Natasha. _They would?_

Her expression said w _hat else can we do?_ while she pulled on her borrowed clothes, and he couldn’t argue that. He was confident Clint could handle whatever this plant thing was anyway- especially with Steve by his side.

“Good, because I have many questions for you” Wanda said as Bucky pulled out a loose pair of sweats for himself.

“Yeah, and what’s that?’ he asked as he held the waistband over his hips to eye the fit.

“I am curious of your anchor to Hydra”

* * *

Clint stood at the edge of the large pond and frowned, staring out at the mass of vines twisting and coiling in the water on the opposite side.

“Is that the evil?” Steve asked beside him.

“Yeah” he said, thinking of how to handle this.

“Doesn’t seem especially malignant”

“‘Cause it’s not” Clint replied, eyeing the thickness of it.

“Oh?”

“It’s a loving vine. They’re found in swamps on the mainland, completely harmless if you leave it be, though a little annoying to deal with if you’re not in the mood. I’m guessing a spore blew in on the breeze a few weeks ago, it looks pretty young still. The spirits probably don’t like it ‘cause it’s new” Clint explained. He turned his head sideways, like maybe that would help his estimate of its size from this distance.

“So we’re not killing it?”

“I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you. I can talk it into a hibernation, then we can take it with us when we leave, drop it off at the first swamp we come across”

Steve nodded. “Do you need me to do anything while you talk it down?”

“Honestly, I get kinda loopy if I do it all myself. If you could take the brunt of it, I can focus better”

“I can do that. What exactly do you need me to do then?”

Clit pulled his eyes away from the plant, realizing he hadn’t explained what _talking it down_ entailed. He eyed Steve up, confident he’d have the stamina for it. The vine fed on energy, and Clint didn’t know how much of that a phoenix carried, but it had to be a lot, right?

With Steve helping, he could probably get it fed and sated in twenty minutes- an hour, tops. He just hoped Steve was up for it.

“How do you feel about tentacle sex?” he finally asked.

* * *

Bucky was seated on the rickety table, shirtless, while the gorgon witch examined his mark from the only chair in the room. Natasha was sitting in a pile of cloth scraps, listening to the exchange between them as she ate the soup Wanda had made.

“You’re saying my mark is connected to a cosmic being that _isn’t_ Steve?” Bucky asked.

“Yes, this is very much connected to Hydra” Wanda confirmed.

“Like a random hydra?”

“No, the Father of Monsters, also called Hydra. He is an Olde Beast”

“And you can tell from this plain black circle?” he asked dubiously, indicating his bared mark.

Her face scrunched. “Is not… just circle, to me. Hydra is not quite father of gorgons, but he is like great-great-great uncle to us. Here, I will show you”

She muttered something under her breath and touched his mark with two fingers. He watched his skin for changes, but nothing appeared. Natasha, however, made an intrigued noise.

“Well that’s ominous” she commented, slurping another spoonful of soup.

Bucky looked between her and Wanda. “What? I don’t see anything”

Wanda frowned, then made a quiet “oh” sound. She pulled her hand away. “I forget you are anti-mage, I infuse the mark with my magic to show, but you do not see magic”

Bucky nodded. Too often he was ignorant of warning signs because they were written in magic script- like really, was it too hard to write a warning for mummy lord’s lair in regular script?

It wasn’t all bad, though- he’d once been paid to transport an arcane tome that drove its readers mad, his services specifically requested because all the pages had been blank to him. Easy coin.

“So what’s it look like, then?” he asked, eyeing the plain mark.

“It’s like a red skull with tentacles where the teeth should be, but the tentacles are moving under your skin” Natasha described.

Wanda nodded. “Yes, like that. All children and relatives of Hydra will see it as such”

Bucky ran a hand through his hair, sighing. That was just great. Of all the people this could’ve happened to, why the fuck had it chosen _him?_

“Why’s it on _me?_ ” he voiced aloud.

“This I do not know”

Bucky hunched a little, but tried not to let his disappointment show. Information was information, and he’d take any piece of it he could get.

“I can find out, though” Wanda added, poking at his mark with a finger.

He perked at that. “You can?”

She nodded. “Yes, there is a communion ritual, we can ask destiny of this mark and let it take us to answer. Might not be _good_ answer, but it will be answer”

“Let’s do it” he said immediately. Anything for an actual answer, no matter how vague.

Wanda beamed. “Oh, it has been so long since I have communed! This will be fun!” she said excitedly, getting up and pulling seemingly random things from the shelves and piles around the place.

She paused in her gathering suddenly, “Wait, you are okay with putting things in your anus, yes?” she asked, and Natasha snorted soup up her nose as she choked on a laugh.

“It’s not a problem” Bucky said, shooting Natasha a look.

“Good, because it is needed for the ritual” she said, handing him a smooth wooden plug with symbols carved into the surface. Bucky’s raised a brow at it, the size was hardly intimidating- barely longer than his thumb, and only a little thicker than that. He could take that with barely any prep.

“I will also need to poison you a little, you are okay with this too?” she asked, and that gave him pause. He looked to Natasha, and she nodded through her coughing fit, assuring him she’d keep an eye on things.

“Yeah, alright” he said a little less brashly.

She nodded, then grabbed a broom.

“So this poison, is that a potion I’m drinking or-?”

“My brother’s venom will do it, it is a very quick bite. I must wake him first” she said, moving to the middle of the room. “He will be a few minutes, you can use bathroom at the back to put that in. Lubrication is on third shelf” she motioned to the back of the hut where a half-opened door led to a bathroom.

Bucky started to head back when Wanda raised the broom and started banging the end of the handle against the ceiling.

“Pietro! Wake up and come down here!” she yelled. Bucky looked up as he heard a loud hiss emanate from above.

“Yes right now!” she shouted in response. She turned to Bucky and shooed at him, “Go, he will be a minute”

He glanced up once more as the hissing continued, then went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

_Weird folks_ , he thought.

* * *

Clint had led them around the pond inside the trees, thinking it better they not announce their presence just yet. They were still behind the treeline, and Clint started to strip in preparation for the encounter. He looked over at Steve and paused, taking in the man’s hesitance.

“You okay to do this? I can go alone if not” Clint reassured. Loving vines weren’t for everyone.

“It’s not that,” Steve said, “it just doesn’t feel right, not with Bucky being held prisoner. He’s going to feel this and wonder why I’m having sex instead of looking for him. But then, having sex is what’s going to get out of there, and I know he’ll understand when I explain, but right this moment he’s going to wonder, and I don’t want to do that to him” Steve ran a hand through his hair as he explained.

Clint frowned, understanding the dilemma “I think a half-hour of hurt is better than a longer imprisonment- and like you said, he’ll understand. Bucky’s strong, I know he can handle the worry- and if I’m not overstepping, I think he’d find it reassuring”

“He would?” Steve asked dubiously.

Clint shifted, realizing he’d let something slip that Bucky probably rather he hadn’t. But, well, he was Clint’s friend, and maybe this would do him good. “Look,” Clint started, “don’t tell him I told you this, but he sees sex as a connection to you”

“Well, naturally” Steve said.

“No, I mean every time you fuck, he feels close to you even when you’re gone. I get why you stopped jacking off while Bucky’s been, _you know_ , but he was honestly so relieved when you did the do a few days ago. He actually started crying”

Steve’s face fell. “What?” he asked in a thin voice.

Clint nodded. “Yeah, he said he was missing your worse than usual because of it”

Steve looked taken aback. “He’s never- he didn’t _say_ anything” Steve said faintly. He covered his mouth with his hand, eyes going distant. “I didn’t even consider that”

Clint put a gentle hand on his shoulder, “I don’t think he thought of it either, not until you stopped”

“Oh gods, I’ve been holding back so he’d take the hint to slow down, I didn’t think- I didn’t _know_ he had a mark! I wouldn’t have stopped if I’d _known_ ” Steve said in a shaky voice, sitting back on his ass.

Clint’s eyes widened. “Hey, hey now, you didn’t know. You can move forward and do better now, it’s all good” he said quickly- he hadn’t meant to _upset_ the guy.

“I never thought about it, but- but what if _he’d_ stopped? Gods, I wouldn’t know if it was by choice or if he _died_. And that’s what I did to him! What kind of a husband am I?” Steve was close crying now, eyes shining with unshed tears.

Clint needed to do some damage control, because they had a pair of elves to free- and as a general rule, you didn’t want to be crying before the tentacle sex even started.

He sat down next to Steve, putting his arm over his shoulders tentatively. “Hey, you’re a great husband” Clint reassured, thinking quickly for more uplifting things to say. Why couldn’t his words ever make things better?

“You’re out here trying to get him back from asshole forest spirits, that’s more than anyone _I’ve_ ever been with would’ve done” Clint said. “You love him, and he _knows_ that. You made an honest mistake, and now you know not to do it again. There’s nothing we can do but do better”

He hugged Steve closer as the man calmed from his words by degree. _Yes!_ Clint thought, relieved he’d salvaged the situation. Now to bring it all home and get them on-track. Daylight was burning and their friends weren’t getting any less kidnapped.

“So what say you and I take a minute to get our heads in the game, go fuck this vine, and get him back. Then you two can talk and kiss and have way too many orgasm to pay him back” Clint said lightly, aiming for levity.

Steve looked and him for a beat, and then started quietly laughing. He covered his mouth with his hand as he tried to hold back the sound, but his whole body shook with the effort as he snorted through his palm.

It was more of a reaction that Clint had anticipated, but he’d take it. “There ya go. See, it’s not so bad” he said while Steve’s face reddened at the held back laughter.

Steve waved him off. “It’s not- _snrk_ \- it’s not you, it’s just that, Bucky’s-” he wheezed, his mouth twitching around a smile, “Bucky’s masturbating” Steve got out between snorts and wheezes. “I’m here having a breakdown, and he’s- he’s” Steve’s shoulder shook with his held back laughter, “he’s _f_ _ingering_ _himself_ ” Steve burst out laughing as he finished.

Clint’s own mouth wobbled, but he gave up any pretense of stoicism and joined Steve as they laughed and giggled. Of _course_ Bucky was doing this while being held hostage. That man was nothing if not driven.

As tears slipped from both their eyes, Clint felt something wet sliding around his ankle. He looked down to see the tip of the loving vine tentatively touching his skin, attracted by the noise he and Steve had made. Clint only laughed harder, nudging Steve to get his attention.

“You still- _ha_ _!_ \- you still up for this?” Clint asked through his snickers, trying to get them under control.

Steve was wiping tears from his eyes as he nodded. Clint saw he was half-hard already, more likely a result of Bucky’s actions than anything.

Both their laughter died down as they got better control, but they each had a stupid grin on their faces as they shared in the joke of Bucky’s antics.

Clint quickly shucked the rest of his clothing off, save his underwear and the ginger-root necklace. He’d dealt with these vines before, and there was a certain amount of _undress_ needed, but if he let it get at him unrestricted, he’d be down for the count- lost in the sauce, so to speak.

Steve untied the knot of his sarong, leaving himself completely nude and much more appetizing to the vine. He’d volunteered to take the brunt of it, after all.

The tip of the vine crept further up Clint’s leg, tapping his skin for permission. Clint could easily pull his leg away and the vine would leave him be- but that wouldn’t solve their problem. The laughter had gone a long way to helping Clint’s mood though, and this quest suddenly didn’t seem like such a chore anymore.

Hadn’t Bucky said he wanted Clint and Steve to get along? Clint couldn’t think of a better way to bond than double-teaming a vine monster. This would actually be way more fun than he’d initially thought.

Beside him, Steve had actually reached a hand out to touch one of the vines, letting it run between his fingers as he pet it. Clint nodded to him- it was a good start. The active interest would help pull the vine’s attention.

The real work would start once the feelers finished getting a sense of them. Once they did- well, suffice to say, Bucky would be feeling a hell of a lot more than his own fingers.

* * *

Bucky wasn’t too proud to admit that he might have worked the plug into himself a little _too_ enthusiastically- but in his defense, it was practically nothing by his standards, and he’d wanted to feel it.

It wasn’t a _good_ defense, but Bucky hadn’t been practicing good sexual self-control for a while now. On the bright side, he hadn’t lost the plug- but it had been a close thing.

He came out of the bathroom after he got it placed and went the stand next to where Natasha sat. Natasha cast a quick glance at him, her eyes falling briefly to his tented pants before going back to observe Wanda as she drew an arcane circle on the hut’s floor.

“Excited?” she commented dryly, slurping at the remains of her soup.

“I have a condition” he answered offhandedly, eyeing a slowly shifting form in the shadows of the rafters.

“You have it placed?” Wanda asked as she closed the circle and moved to place candles around it. She didn’t comment on his situation, thankfully. Bucky confirmed he was ready, and she motioned for him to step into the circle. “Pietro will bite you fast, is there preference for a place?” she asked.

Bucky thought a moment, then held out his left arm. “It’s already fucked up with the mark” he said.

“Okay. Pietro, come bite this man” she called to the ceiling.

From the rafters slithered a giant silver snake, easily the third biggest Bucky had ever seen. It moved lethargically, almost drooping down as if gravity was exerting too much force for it to handle. A low hiss emanated from its throat.

Wanda tisked. “It is hardly a difficulty”

The snake appeared to glare at her, but then between one blink and the next, Bucky was feeling an ache in his arm. He looked down to see a pair of identical punctures in the skin on his bicep, and already his arm started drooping at his side.

“Thank you” Wanda said pointedly as she helped ease Bucky to the floor, his legs suddenly loose and uncoordinated. She laid him on his back, then moved away from view. The venom had worked unexpectedly _fast_ , and Bucky was stuck staring at the ceiling, unable to coordinate his movement. Was his head floating? It felt like it was floating a little.

He caught a brief flash of silver in the corner of his eye as the snake retreated back to the roof through an opening in the ceiling.

Wanda returned, carrying a pillow and blanket. “Sorry, he is grumpy because we disturb his sunning time. He will be nicer later” she said as she tucked the pillow under his head and wrapped the blanket around him- “You may turn cold” she warned as she did so.

She looked down at him, pulling his eyelid up to check his pupil and nodding approvingly. “I will close your eyes so they do not dry” and then he was plunged into darkness.

“When we enter the river of fate, stay close to me, and do not fear. I will guide us”

She started chanting in rhythmic hisses, and Bucky listened to the hypnotic tempo. The floor melted under him, and he sank into something infinite and soft and-

_Cool. Throbbing. Wet. Touching him everywhere, creeping under his thighs to caress his ass, slowly pushing into him with something soft and slippery. Another touch at his cock, wrapping around and_ squeezing _in the best way, wrapping around his hard length, wrapping around his balls, creeping up his stomach and chest and arms to coil all over him._

_Slithering up his neck, to his mouth and slipping inside, caressing his tongue with something smooth and thick and slicked, and he was sucking on it because it was so filling, and it was rubbing him deliciously, and he was moaning-_

_Steve_ , Bucky realized. This was Steve’s experience, and it was following him down.

Fuck.

* * *

Clint felt heat colour his neck as he watched Steve take the vines, mouth watering at the sight of it. His initiative of petting had pulled its interest, and Steve was the main focus of the plant.

The vines were everywhere, groping and writhing along Steve’s skin. It had looped itself around his limbs and torso, and had lifted him entirely off the ground, chest up at the sun as if he was displayed specifically for Clint to watch.

The vines had started excreting slime when it sensed the imminent sex, and the smooth slickness of the plant let it slip into any crevice or hole easily. Steve had taken two of the vines in his ass, and Clint was at an excellent angle to see the man clench on the intrusion as he moaned. His balls were wrapped and squeezed gently in another, while _four_ other vines were vying for his cock, completely covering it with their pulsing movements.

More vines rubbed and squeezed and kneaded his flesh, wrapping around his muscles in what Clint knew from experience was something akin to a full-body massage. Steve was breathing heavily and moaning around the vine in his mouth, and Clint swallowed as he saw Steve’s cheeks hollow when he sucked, making the plant shudder in response.

Steve was trying to move in the plant’s hold and pull its attention, gripping more of the vines in his hands and rubbing them- an encouraging action for the vine to keep going.

The sight stole Clint’s breath- it was the hottest thing he’d seen, recently. Steve was debauched and on the way to wrecked, but he was still working it, still putting in the effort to keep the plant focused on him, thrusting and moving and making the hottest sounds.

If they weren’t pressed for time, Clint would’ve joined him, let the vine tangle them together, press their wet body against each other as it fucked them both, maybe push their cocks together so Clint could feel Steve’s dick pulse against his own as they each got fucked shallow and fast-

Clint stifled his own moan- he couldn’t attract any more attention to himself. He was sitting as still as he could, letting the vines slowly pet his legs and thigh, rubbing over on his covered crotch. He gently peeled away another vine that was trying to go higher, because if he took even _one_ in his mouth- tempting as it may be- he’d lose focus and get lost in the feel of it.

Steve suddenly made a croaking noise, and his eyes rolled back into his head as he went lax. Clint stiffened, running his eyes over to see if the vine had done something, but it only it kept up it’s steady pulses and shifts.

Steve was still groaning, but it was unfocused, and his movements had stopped being so active- instead he was shifting in reaction to the stimulus rather than against it to make the vine work. His eyes had gone half-lidded and stupid.

In short, it looked like Steve was lost in the sauce.

_What the hell?_ He was supposed to keep the vine’s focus! Now that he’d gone passive, Clint was more likely to get noticed, and he was _not_ confident he had the self-restraint to turn down this pleasure.

But he’d try.

Clint took a steadying breath, calmly continuing to pull vines off that tried getting too frisky, but letting the few at his legs and crotch continue their work. If he was going to convince this thing to hibernate, he’d need a rapport with it. He also turned his eyes away from the equally hot image of a wrecked Steve, because that wasn’t helping his restraint.

What the hell had the vine done to get Steve like this?

_Would it do the same to me?_ , he wondered hopefully. Then he pinched his arm to clear that thought.

* * *

Bucky… scuttled? Yeah, he was scuttling along a grey-sanded shore of a golden river that extended into the stars. By his side was a horned snake, scales redder than blood.

“… Wanda?”

“Yes. We are in the space between dream and thought and destiny. It will be weird” Wanda said.

Bucky turned and looked down at himself. “Am I a crab?” he asked. He brought his hands up and found they were crab claws.

Wanda coiled up and stretched her neck to get a better look. “I think you are hermit crab with no shell” she said, and he shifted his eye-stalks to look down at this soft underbelly. He frowned, maybe. He didn’t know how much expression crabs had.

“Is the universe telling me something? This feels really on-the-nose” he said, shifting his vulnerable tail in the air to show an ominously shadowy hook embedded in the tip.

Wanda shrugged, somehow. Their bodies weren’t following the physical limitations of the real world.

“We are inflections of ourselves in the lens of our psych and a cosmology unknown. If it helps, your reflection is a swan” she said, pointing to the water. He glanced over and saw that yes, his reflection _was_ a swan. Hers was a bush sprouting red peppers.

This was becoming a headache.

“Can we just go find our answers?” he said, turning away from the river that was spreading out into the universe.

“We will need to wait for a ferry, but they come frequently, we won’t be waiting long-”

Wanda was suddenly ensconced in white, as was everything else at the shore, and Bucky turned to see a huge orb of light towering behind them. He raised a claw to block some of the glare, but it was like a small sun was standing not ten feet from them.

“Bucky?” Steve called from within the brightness.

“Steve? Fuck, I can’t see you”

“This is your phoenix?” Wanda asked, squinting and looking away. Gods, but Steve was painful to look at.

“You _ass_ , are you going on a spirit journey?” Steve asked, annoyed now. The light died away, revealing Steve in his normal form, wearing a comfortable shirt and pants.

“Yes?”

“You’re going on a spirit journey when our spirit connection is _actively open_?”

Bucky held up a claw, “This one’s not my fault” he said. “ _You’re_ having sex right now- which is I’m not judging you for by the way”

“Not judge- you jerk, I’m doing this for you!”

“For me?”

“Yes!”

Bucky blinked. “Why?”

“Because the forest spirits that kidnapped you want me to!”

Bucky stared at him for a beat. “None of this sounds like my fault”

“It’s not!” Steve snapped, then put his hands on his hips and looked down, actively settling himself.

“You are fucking the _plantă impudentă_?” Wanda asked dubiously.

“I _was_. Now I guess my subconscious is” Steve grumbled.

“I suppose that is one way to deal with it” Wanda muttered, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

“Why do the spirits need you to fuck this plant thing?” Bucky asked.

“They want us to get rid of it, Clint said he could get it to hibernate if we fucked it”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Of course he did”

“You’re not in a position to judge” Steve said, pointing a finger at him.

“I have a condition!” Bucky snapped, both verbally and with his claws.

Steve huffed, but didn’t argue further. He pinched his brow. “Just, _why_ are you on a spirit journey?” he asked.

“So _apparently_ , this anchor is connected to some elder being called Hydra, and Wanda offered to help me find out what that’s all about” Bucky answered.

Steve froze, eyes wide as he took in Bucky’s words. “Fuck” he cursed, then after a beat, “ _Fuck_ ” he said again.

“You know something?”

“He’s what I’m Crusading against”

Bucky paused, then raised his claws, his palps rubbing together excitedly. “Oh! You can join me on my quest to get rid of this mark! It’s related, right?”

“This is a _bad_ thing, Buck. Hydra’s a serious threat. He’s a world-ending titan and he’s _tied to you_ ” Steve emphasized.

“No, no, I get that but, you know, silver linings” Bucky said as he waved a claw. The whole mark situation was a pain in the ass, and he wasn’t thrilled with the enormity of the problem- but having Steve by his side would make it _so_ much more bearable.

Steve opened his mouth to speak, then stopped, started again- and then stopped. He seemed to be debating how to say something, then visibly dropped it, giving Bucky a tight smile instead. “Sure, silver lining”

Bucky took pity on him. “Look Steve, I understand this is serious, but so far I haven’t been able to _do_ anything. It’s getting worse, and I’m only just getting answers to what the hell’s going on. I mean, _look at me_ ” he raised his claws to indicate his crab body, “I’m on some goddamn metaphorical bullshit looking for a solution”

Steve’s smile went from tight to sympathetic, and he knelt down to scoop Bucky into his palms, bringing him up to face-level.

“Sorry Buck, I know this is hard for you and I… I’m trying” he sighed. “I know we don’t get to spend a lot of time when I’m on Crusade, and- and it’s shitty, for both of us, but you especially. You’re more than patient, and you deserve the world, not some eldritch marking- and not a husband who leaves you to deal with it on your own”

Steve swallowed as his voice shook on the last part, but he went on. “I’m going to solve this with you, but not because it relates to my Crusade. It was… _fuck_ , it was shitty of me to tell you I couldn’t before. Whether your mark was related or not, I should’ve paused my Crusade for this, at least until we knew it wasn’t serious. My job is to help people, and what kind of Paladin am I if I don’t even help the man I _love?_ ”

“ _Oh Steve_ , no, honey, it’s okay” Bucky said softly, gently running his claw under Steve’s eye to catch a tear. “I know your work is important, and you do what you do for me just as much as anyone else. I’m not worth the world”

“ _You are to me_ ” Steve said in a choked voice, and Bucky felt a flush of warmth in his chest.

Steve brought Bucky close to his face and they touched foreheads, basking in each other’s presence. “We’ll figure this out _together_ ” Steve said quietly.

They held like that for what felt like an eternity, until a small cough pulled their attention. Bucky turned around and looked down to see Wanda coiled in the sand.

“The ferry is coming now, but we can wait for the next…?”

“No, that’s okay” Steve said with a small smile, sharing one last loving look with Bucky before placing him gently on his shoulder. Then Steve reached his hand out so Wanda could coil around his forearm.

Bucky looked out to the river, and sure enough there was a ferry approaching. It looked simple and wooden, large enough for several passengers plus the ferryman, who was an indistinct masked figure guiding the craft along. It pulled up to the shore, and Steve stepped on.

“So where are we going?” Steve asked as he took a seat, holding Bucky and Wanda in his lap.

“Wherever fate takes us” Wanda said, and she tapped the hook embedded in Bucky’s tail, causing a faint black shimmer to travel along an invisible fishing line attached to it. The line extended forward in the direction they traveled before the shimmer disappeared from sight.

“And how long will that take?”

“As long as it takes” she said with a shrug.

Bucky looked out into the black expanse of stars they sailed into. Their answers lay out there, and one way or another, they’d arrive at them. Bucky could only hope the answers were helpful and would point to a solution.

Steve frowned at Wanda’s answer. “I’m concerned for Clint, I left him to fuck that plant mostly on his own”

“Oh, I’m sure that’ll be a real hardship for him” Bucky said dryly.

* * *

Clint wasn’t going lose it. _He wasn’t._

His ass might be filled and stretched with slick vines that seemed to know exactly where his prostate was, and his dick might have a cool wetness wrapped around it, pulsing deliciously and making sparks of pleasure fly between the two spots, but goddamn if his mouth was empty.

Not empty-empty, but he’d shoved a branch between his teeth and was biting down on it, using it to both ground himself and stop the vines from slithering past his lips. The rough bark on his tongue reminded him to stay in the present, and he resolutely kept his eyes away from the absolute glorious view of a wrecked Steve in front of him. His moans and pleasured squeaks were harder to ignore, but Clint couldn’t do much about that.

_Just another thirty minutes_ , he reminded himself. He breathed hard through his nose and thought about Bucky, smiling and fully clothed- because this was not a fantasy but a _reminder_ of what he was working for. He could hold himself together for his friend, goddammit. _I can do this_.

He felt a vine slowly slithering around his neck, wrapping itself at his windpipe and holding him snug. Clint swallowed, and he could feel his throat move against the pressure at his neck, and that was _so hot_. He imaged what it would feel like to have one of those down his throat, swallowing and feeling the pressure both inside and out-

Clint dropped that thought like a hot potato and ran his tongue over the stick in his mouth. He exhaled resolutely. _I can do this._


	8. Chapter 8

The ferryman took them down the river that was more of an ocean, filled with the night sky and celestial bodies. It was beautiful, but Steve couldn’t appreciate the splendor of it after reeling from his realization with Clint, and then his talk with Bucky that barely scratched the surface of an issue- that Steve was only now starting realize- was bigger than he thought.

Steve’s Crusades happened on an as-needed basis, and as long as there was nothing world-ending happening _right now_ , he could technically take indefinite leave between them. He could never sit idly by, however, and his vacations used to be a few weeks at most before he was off on the next quest. After meeting Bucky though, he’d gotten into the habit of extending his off-time as far as five years when possible.

But even still, when he was gone on Crusade, he was _gone_. What he did was too dangerous to bring Bucky along- to bring _anyone_ along, really. His reincarnation led him to take the most dangerous quests that other Paladins would be hard-pressed to come out of alive, and it put him in strong demand for work.

Whenever his path happened to cross with Bucky’s, they’d take a few days together if Steve could spare, maybe a week if there was a lull, but otherwise they wouldn’t see each other for upwards of years. Steve had known it was hard on both of them, and the knowledge that he was keeping the world safe eased some of his own pain- but Bucky had nothing. It was why Steve pushed him to make connections, to build a support network for when he was gone.

He hadn’t realized that it wasn’t enough though- that Bucky’s separation issue ran deep. Was it their link? Had Bucky grown so used to it that the sudden cessation had him panicking?

And more, would the same happen to Steve if it were the other way around? They’d had their connection for over a century and in all that time Steve had never gone more than a week without feeling Bucky through their bond. That small thread between them kept them together, even when they were apart.

Steve was starting to see that it had unknowingly made them prone to separation anxiety. Steve didn’t think that was necessarily bad- a little effort on both their parts and the system worked for them- but that realization had brought with it a different epiphany.

He understood now that what he’d thought was him sending a pointed message to Bucky was actually the opposite- he’d cut Bucky off completely. How much of that excessive sex was Bucky’s mark, and how much was him trying to make a connection?

Regardless, Steve shouldn’t have stopped outright. He’d hurt Bucky- who was so understanding he hadn’t even blamed Steve for doing it- but Steve wasn’t so forgiving of himself. He would do better- he would _be_ better- and he would stick around to make up for this.

Not only would he make it right, but he’d make sure it never happened again. From now on he make sure to hold up his end of the connection. He’d fucking schedule it if he had to.

For now though, he’d help support Bucky with his mark issue, because it had Steve even more worried knowing it had to do with Hydra.

He glanced down at his husband and couldn’t hold back a smile. Now that the initial irritation of being dragged into a spirit journey had worn off, he had to admit- Bucky made an adorable crab. Steve always ended up a giant ball of light on these things- and fine, he _got it_ , he was a phoenix- but Bucky’s form was the cutest little thing.

He had no idea who the snake was, but she seemed like an experienced guide, and Bucky had to think she was trustworthy enough if he was here with her. Which reminded him-

“Hey, are you doing okay? Clint says you were kidnapped by tree spirits, are they treating you alright?”

Bucky looked up at him. “Oh, yeah, they dumped us at Wanda’s house” he said, pointing to the snake.

“Oh, I’m… sorry?” Steve said unsurely.

Wanda waved her tail in annoyance. “It is _bullshit_. I am not babysitter, spirits always dump their garbage on me and my brother, like we owe them favour for letting us live in their forest. I am powerful _vrăjitoare_ , as if I cannot send them away! They stop coming to me with problems at least, but solution is almost as annoying” she said irritably, then she waved her tail at Bucky, “But this one is interesting, makes me curious of mark, so I will let it slide this time”

Steve nodded, glad Bucky was getting some help, roundabout as it had been. He had to admit, this was a lucky break for him  on his Hydra Crusade.

T hey floated along for what felt like minutes and eons and no time at all, until they hit the shore of a red-earthen wasteland. They stepped off with a quiet thanks to the ferryman, and Steve gently  placed Bucky and Wanda on the ground.

“Were to?” Bucky asked, and Wanda indicated the hook caught in his tail. She tapped it once, and the shimmer of a line shot out before disappearing.

“We go where the line runs” she said  simply , then started slithering in the direction it had gone in.  Steve and Bucky followed behind, moving through the barren place where the ground was hard and the air was still.  A haze rising from the  earth like heat lines,  though no temperature touched Steve’s skin.

As they walked, they saw other beings, blurred and making their own travels- a headless white deer, a cube walking on a tripod of legs, a wheelbarrow  of hands carting along  on its own .

Spirit reflections were finicky, and Steve had gone on enough of these to learn  how  to take his normal shape,  because it turned out  that  a lot of beings were unwilling to speak to a gigantic burning orb.

They walked for another minute of eternity, until the line took them down a canyon that eventually opened into a huge ocean of blackened tar. Steve was unable to see the horizon, however, due to the huge monstrosity roiling and writhing in the inky mess.

It looked to be an amalgamation of creatures, countless heads and legs and tails and other appendages sticking out of it, robbing its outline of any reasonable shape.

There was a tearing noise, and its skin split from the centre of its mass to reveal one huge eye that gazed down at them.

“ _Wh_ _ä_ _t do you w_ _ä_ _nt?_ ” it said in a thunderous voice the sent the tar rippling.

Wanda bowed low, and Steve quickly followed her lead. He gently poked Bucky with the toe of his foot, and with a quiet “oh!” Bucky quickly did the same.

“Echidna, Mother of Monsters! We come guided by destiny for answers!” Wanda called.

“ _C_ _ä_ _n I not enjoy_ _ä_ _damn b_ _ä_ _th in pe_ _ä_ _ce for once?_ _I c_ _ä_ _n’t go_ _ä_ _hundred ye_ _ä_ _rs without some soul b_ _ä_ _rging in_ ” she hissed, several limbs smacking into the water in annoyance and sending tidal waves to the opposite shores.

“Our apologies!” Wanda yelled, sending her voice across the tar. “We seek only answers for the work of Hydra, Father of Monsters!”

Echidna let our a loud rumble that sounded like a stampede of beasts. “ _Hydr_ _ä_ ” she hissed venomously, “ _He thinks he c_ _ä_ _n e_ _ä_ _rn th_ _ä_ _t title!? Did_ _HE_ _c_ _ä_ _rry the horde of be_ _ä_ _sts in him for forty-thous_ _ä_ _nd ye_ _ä_ _rs? Did_ _HE_ _c_ _ä_ _re for them in the Wildl_ _ä_ _nds of Splendour until they were grown? NO! He doesn’t even know their n_ _ä_ _mes!_ _Ä_ _nd he thinks he gets to be c_ _ä_ _lled their_ _F_ _ä_ _ther!_ ” she spat, sending the sea into a chaos of waves with her angry gesticulations.

She leaned forward, looming above the three of them as she glared down, with a pupil that looked larger than the moon. “ _I see he’s doing wh_ _ä_ _t he_ _ä_ _lw_ _ä_ _ys does, sticking his prick where it don’t belong_ ” she said bitterly, and the hook in Bucky’s tail started emanating a black miasma.

“This is his _dick?!_ ” Bucky squeaked, turning to the hook in his tail with disgust.

Echidna wave a mass of heads and limbs dismissively. “ _Met_ _ä_ _phoric_ _ä_ _l dick. It’s_ _ä_ _ll he does, t_ _ä_ _kes you on_ _ä_ _che_ _ä_ _p d_ _ä_ _te to the intersection of time_ _ä_ _nd_ _gives you mediocre sex,_ _then s_ _ä_ _ys he’ll c_ _ä_ _ll you in the next century- but then he_ doesn’t _,_ _ä_ _nd you’re left with_ _ä_ _trillion sp_ _ä_ _wned children! Not th_ _ä_ _t I don’t love them, but would it_ _h_ _ä_ _ve_ _kill_ _ed_ _him to t_ _ä_ _ke them for_ _ä_ _n_ _ä_ _ge? No wonder the bum’s got himself in the nether sphere_ ”

“So then what is this?” Bucky asked, waving his tail.

“ _It’s_ _ä_ _n_ _ä_ _nchor for him to dock to your world. The shit’s even got it_ _hooked_ _to your sex; though I’m not surprised. You’ve got some kind of infinite power source tied to it, I bet_ _the l_ _ä_ _zy fuck’s_ _pull_ _ing_ _on th_ _ä_ _t power_ _to fuel his_ _ä_ _rriv_ _ä_ _l_ ”

“Uhhh” Bucky mumbled, casting a look at Steve. Steve could only grimace- not only was Bucky involved, but he was involved because of his connection with _Steve_.

“Is there a way to get rid of it?” Steve asked.

She seemed to size them up, several of her other heads turning to look at them, then she _harrumphed_ , except it sounded more like the earth shattering.

“ _Eh, fuck it, I’d like to see th_ _ä_ _t b_ _ä_ _st_ _ä_ _rd rot some more in the nether. You, with the_ _ä_ _nchor, th_ _ä_ _t thing’s stuck in deep,_ _ä_ _nd the b_ _ä_ _st_ _ä_ _rd’s got his bo_ _ä_ _t on the other side, but the ch_ _ä_ _in between the worlds c_ _ä_ _n be broken_ ”

Steve perked. “Do you have a way for us to do that?”

“ _Wh_ _ä_ _t_ _ä_ _m I,_ _ä_ _ch_ _ä_ _in-smith? Go t_ _ä_ _lk to one of those- then t_ _ä_ _lk to someone who c_ _ä_ _n loc_ _ä_ _te, the ch_ _ä_ _in will_ _ä_ _ppe_ _ä_ _r in your world_ _ä_ _s_ _ä_ _glowing cube or something”_ she said, then huffed an exasperated breath like a hurricane wind. “ _Now go, I’d like to get b_ _ä_ _ck to my exfoli_ _ä_ _tion_ _s_ ”

Steve was absolutely beaming. To an adventurer like him, this information was gold, and he had a clear path to his next step.

Wanda bowed again. “A thanks, Echidna, Mother of Monsters, for your time and your wisdom”

“Yes, thank you!” Steve said, then nudged Bucky, tilting his head pointedly to Echidna.

“Oh, yeah, thanks!” Bucky added, taking his eyes off the hook in his tail to bow as well.

Echidna let out a deep rumble, then leaned back to continue her writhing in the inky ocean. The three of them moved away, back the way they came.

“Bucky, can you believe this? That was, holy shit, that was so helpful! I’ve never dealt with an Olde being who was so, so-” he struggled to find a word for how practical her advice had been.

“Yes, the Mother was tempered by the trial of her children, she has little patience for the ambiguous now” Wanda commented as she slithered along.

Bucky didn’t seem to share in Steve’s excitement, and he scuttled along with a pensive look.

“Bucky?” Steve asked, his smile growing smaller.

Bucky looked up. “No, it’s great, it’s just, it’s draining you? Does it- hurt? Have I have been hurting you?” Bucky asked with worry.

Steve fell to his knees, quick to reassure. “Bucky, I _promise you_ , I haven’t felt anything but you pleasure” he said seriously, looking deep into Bucky’s beady little eyes.

“But it’s draining you” he said, rubbing his palps anxiously.

“Bucky,” Steve said with a comforting smile, “my soul is infinite. It doesn’t matter how much of my energy he takes, infinity minus infinity is still infinity”

Bucky blinked at him, then sagged in relief. “Oh thank fuck. I don’t know if I could’ve gone celibate”

Steve huffed, and gently knocked on Bucky’s carapace. “You jerk”

“Punk” he said with a wobbly smile.

Steve stood again. “Come on, lets get out of here so I can help Clint finish off that plant, then get you back”

“Are you even fucking it? I can’t feel anything on your end”

Steve scratched his chin. “Yeah, not sure how that works with all this, usually I’m sitting in meditation when I spirit journey”

“Your bodies will still be feeling the other” Wanda said. “You should brace yourself for your return, if you are using the _amant_ method, you will be going back to something very intense-” she turned and gave Bucky a pointed look, “ _both_ of you”

Bucky nodded, then smiled sheepishly at Steve. “Well, I’m in no position to complain”

Steve gave him a pointed look. “I’m not blaming you for your appetite because of that mark, but _yes_ , you’re in no position to complain” he agreed.

* * *

Clink was _close_. He _so close_ , he just needed a little more-

The vines pulled him further away from their center mass and he grunted in frustration. His hand had nearly been close enough to grasp the inner flower. He just needed to get a little _closer_ , dammit.

He’d been slowly dragging himself towards the thick mass where the plant’s heart lay, letting the vines fuck him and think nothing of his movement. Only when he’d been just about to get to the center had it reacted, but it had only shifted him a foot or so away, probably thinking he’d gotten there by accident.

Well, time for something a little more active. He shifted his hips to create a swinging momentum, and the plant must not have expected the sudden movement, because it didn’t hold him in place.

He shoved his hand into the center and grasped a soft mass- _aha!_ , the flower!

The whole plant froze as he held it in his grip. One tug and he’d rip the flower out, killing the plant- but he hadn’t kept his wits through two orgasms just to kill this thing in the most asshole-ish way possible. Instead, he gently caressed it, feeling the plant shudder and loosen a little in relief. It didn’t try to yank him away, a testament to the trust he’d built.

With deft fingers he ran them along the petals of the closed bud, and very slowly he felt it open. The collective of tentacles shifted, revealing the beautiful bloom, like a water lily of the most vibrant shade of purple, the tips fading into a softer mauve. The vines inside him and Steve slowed their movement, matching Clint’s strokes, and as delicious as that was, he kept his focus.

The bloom was splaying open until he could see the white center, a single pollen-coated stigma poking from the middle. This was it. He spat out the stick in his mouth.

He leaned in and started whispering in the language of the forest, very gently explaining his intentions. The vines paused their movement again as the plant listened to him.

Once he laid out his plan, he pulled his hand away, and the plant took a second before covering its flower protectively again. Clint and Steve were left hovering as the vines held them aloft, the only sound their twinned panting breaths and Steve’s intermittent groans.

Clint waited tensely, because if his proposal was rejected, this was all for nothing, and they’d have to kill the loving vine if they wanted Bucky and Natasha back.

To his relief, however, the vine started to pull out gently. He gasped at the feel of the excess slime leaking out of him like spunk, whimpering a little. Steve whined as the same happened to him.

It set both he and Steve down on the grass, then retreated back to its mass. Before Clint’s eyes, the huge bundle of vines started to shrink as it expelled water from itself, until it dried into a palm-sized wicker ball. It reminded him a little of Lucky.

Clint walked over on his knees and gently picked it up, then sat down heavily, sighing. He’d done it. He’d talked it down, and they could get their elves back without resorting to death. That was a win in Clint’s book.

He turned to Steve, pushing down the flair of arousal at the sight of him. Steve was lying on his back in the grass and panting, covered in sweat and plant slime. His abs were coated in lines of his own come, and his dick was still hard and leaking. Every exhale was a moan that slid past his swollen lips, and Clint couldn’t stop picturing them stretched around those vines.

He shoved the image out of his head and stood on wobbly legs, moving to place the brittle ball on his pile of clothes. Then he went back for Steve, gripping the man under his armpits and dragging him back into the cover of the trees. Steve moaned at the contact, and his half-lidded eyes looked vaguely in Clint’s direction.

“You’re so good for Buck” he murmured. “He needs friends, you know? He needs friends”

Steve sounded out of it, and Clint quickly set him down on some soft earth. He crouched by Steve’s head and put a steadying hand behind the man’s neck.

“Steve, can you tell me what you need right now?”

Steve gazed up at him fondly. “Treat Bucky right, okay? Just treat him right. He’s a, a beautiful crab, and people don’t think crabs can love, but they _do_ ” Steve said dazedly.

Clint blew out a breath. _Okay_.

He looked back at the pond, then to Steve and his glistening skin, then to his own sweaty body. Clint sighed again, got his hands under Steve’s armpits, and dragged him back out. The water was clear enough to bathe, and maybe it would help bring Steve back to his senses.

He brought them to a cropping of stones in the shallows that they could sit on, and had just placed Steve gently on his ass when his whole body jumped in shock. Clint lost his grip, which caused Steve to fall back into the pond, and he quickly sat up as he sputtered water out of his mouth.

Clint backed up with his palms out. “Hey man, it’s alright, you’re alright” he said, trying to look nonthreatening.

Steve blinked the water out of his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, glancing around quickly. Once he got his bearings, he looked to Clint with confusion.

“Did we get it?”

* * *

Natasha sat cross-legged as she watched Wanda sit absolutely still at Bucky’s feet, while Bucky did his damnedest to… wiggle? Whatever venom had been in that snake bite had done hell to his coordination and strength, and he reminded her of a sleepy toddler trying to shove their blanket off in their sleep.

Bucky kept gurgling and grunting, mumbling incoherent words as his limbs shifted weakly under the blanket. It had been funny for about five minutes, and then just plain annoying. Natasha was having trouble admiring Wanda’s sharp beauty with the Sounds of Bucky playing so loud in the otherwise quiet hut.

They’d been like that for over an hour- until Bucky’s movements had started to calm, and a short while after that Wanda opened her eyes. She made a pained face and stretched. Natasha heard her neck and back crack from keeping the same position for so long.

Bucky grunted, but it sounded more like annoyance than his mindless noises of earlier. His eyes looked more present too.

“I will get anti-venom” Wanda said, standing stiffly and grabbing a tincture she’d set aside. A few droplets into Bucky’s mouth and she let him be, moving to the chair and sitting back with a tired sigh.

“How’d it go?” Natasha asked.

Wanda waved a hand. “Hydra is trying to enter this world, is using Bucky as anchor and energy source. Big plot” she said dismissively.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t comment.

“Gods _dammit_ ” Bucky cursed once he jaw was able to move correctly.

“Is anti-venom not working?” Wanda asked.

“No, no, that’s fine” Bucky muttered, sitting up. The blanket pooled in his lap, and Natasha got a view of his mark that was now thinly coated in blood, like he’d sweated it out of his skin- which meant all his grunting had been…

Gross.

“I missed him _again_ ” Bucky ground out, shoving the blanket off completely and revealing the damp patch at his crotch. “That’s _two_ since we’ve been on this island! I missed them _both_ ” he said bitterly as he moved to the washroom, undoing the tie of his pants as he went, then slamming the door.

“I assume his phoenix has finished dealing with the _plantă impudentă_ ” Wanda said wryly, leaning her cheek into her hand tiredly.

“Looks like” Natasha agreed. “Any idea how long until the spirits let us leave?”

“Eh, I say give it hour and you should be fine” she said with a shrug.

Natasha leaned back and sighed. An _hour_ in this dump? She could dance to the beach and be lounging in the sun right now, but that would mean stranding Bucky. Although, that would be pretty funny in its own right.

“So how do you pass the time here?” Natasha asked, looking around at the disorganized mess. If there was nothing of value for her, she’d leave.

“I forage, scry a little, sometimes summon succubus”

That got Natasha’s head turning. “A succubus you say?”

* * *

Clint gently held the balled up vine in the crook of his arm as he led Steve through the thick underbrush.

“These spirits are real pricks, not gonna lie” Steve commented behind him.

Clint hummed in agreement. After they’d bathed and packed up, Clint had tried talking with the spirits. He’d gotten the equivalent of a thumbs up and the vague directions to their friends. Wham-bam-thank-you-ranger, now get out.

Assholes.

So he’d taken the directions they gave him and trekked through the woods until he saw a faint line of smoke, and now they were coming up on a hut. Clint’s face broke out in a smile the moment he saw Bucky, hunched and sitting on the hut’s stoop with a sour look.

“Bucky!” Steve exclaimed as they broke from the treeline, and Bucky’s face transformed like a sunrise, brightening as he stood. They practically collided with how fast they ran into each other, and Steve dipped them down in what Clint would call an incredibly romantic kiss.

Then Steve’s hands moved lower to grip Bucky’s ass while Bucky hitched his legs around Steve’s waist, and Clint’s eyebrows shot up as the two tumbled to the ground.

“I’m just… gonna see if anyone’s home” Clint said awkwardly, walking past the two lovers as things turned heated. Not that he wouldn’t like to watch, but after Steve’s realization, he figured they could use some more alone time.

He made his way to the door when a low hiss caught his attention. He froze and looked up, seeing the head of a large snake looking down at him. He squinted, listening to the hiss- it sounded almost like the Yuan-ti snake-people’s language, and he barely spoke that as it was.

He managed to catch the words _do not_ and _home,_ and by the way this snake was slowly slithering down to block the door, he could take a hint.

“Alright, not gonna enter. But, uh, you wouldn’t happen to know if there’s another elf in there? Red hair, goes by Natasha?” For all Clint knew, she could’ve teleported away by now. Danced away. Whatever.

The snake regarded him, its tongue flicking out to taste the air. Then it moved its head to look at the two men who’d fallen to the ground and were starting to grind against each other.

“Also… sorry about them, they’re sorting some stuff”

The snake started to retreat back to the roof. As it moved, its silver scales shimmered and flared, and the snake’s head twisted as its flesh split. The next moment Clint was staring up at the face of a man, leaning his face in his arms in annoyance.

“There is sex _inside_ my home, now there is sex _outside_ my home,” he grouched, “and I do not plan for sex on _top_ of my home, so what is it you want?” he asked suspiciously.

Clint faltered a moment. “Oh, uh, no, that’s- that’s fine. I just finished getting smashed by this plant, I’m not looking for any more sex right now” he said, holding up the dried bundle in his hand.

The snake-man grunted. “Then what is it you want?” he repeated.

“Oh! We came to get our friends back, nothing else, but I guess they’re gonna be a while… sorry, did you say there was sex happening inside?”

“Yes, your other elf and my _soră_ summon demons together” he said with exasperation.

_Summon demons together_ , huh? Not the weirdest euphemism Clint had heard.

“So, uh, you wanna get out of here or something?” he asked, then quickly added when the snake-man’s eyes turned suspicious again “Not to like, do anything- it just sounds like you don’t wanna stick around for this stuff” he said as he pointed his thumb back to Steve and Bucky. They moaned loudly as if to emphasize his point.

He stared at Clint a moment longer, then reached his hand down. “Pietro” he introduced.

“Clint” he answered, grasping Pietro’s hand to shake, only for his grip to tighten, and Clint found himself yanked up and onto the roof with a surprised _oomph_.

Pietro let go of his hand and started to move towards the back of the hut. Clint saw the lower half of his body was still that of a snake, and he slithered while his arms walked to keep his body off the ground.

“You can climb trees?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m not bad at it” he said distractedly, more interested in the shimmer of Pietro’s huge body. He must’ve been thirty feet long if he was an inch, and wide as a human’s waist.

“Follow me, I know a better place” he said, and again his humanoid skin shifted, erupting in scales as he turned back into a full snake. He moved to a thick branch that was leaning against the roof and slithered into the tree. Clint blinked away his astonishment and followed, jumping and running along the tree limbs to keep up with the surprisingly fast snake as they moved higher and higher.

They came out to another platform build into the top of a tree, with an excellent view of the ocean horizon off the island. Pietro shifted back, and he reached under a floorboard to pull out a rolled bundle.

“You smoke?” he asked, placing the joint between his lips.

“Oh, nah man”

“Is okay if I do?” Pietro asked, holding up a lighter. Clint waved him to go ahead.

Pietro lit up and leaned back on his elbows, looking out to the sea. “So how is it you get here? I see you wash up at beach”

“Oh, now _that_ is an interesting series of events” Clint started, sitting back against a thick branch and relaxing. Pietro seemed alright- better company than the others at the moment. After the orgy last night and the loving vine today, he could do with some less strenuous activity, and a good yarn was just in his lane.

* * *

Bucky had been sulking on the stoops of the hut, ignoring the muffled sounds from inside that he’d been banned from participating in. Wanda didn’t want him in a demonic summoning circle- said his mark would attract more attention than they wanted.

It inadvertently worked out for him though, because he got to see the moment Clint and Steve arrived, and all was suddenly fine. Better than fine.

He bypassed Clint and went straight for Steve as if this was their first reuniting, and it was just as dramatic. Their lips crashed together, and Steve dipped them down, supporting Bucky in his arms. Their lips never came apart and Bucky poured all his feeling into the kiss, Steve returning it tenfold.

After the answers they got in the spirit realm- or wherever the fuck they’d been- Bucky had been left with an uncomfortable understanding that he was dragging a world-ending terror into the world, which wasn’t ideal. Maybe a little terrifying even.

But right here, in Steve’s arms, he didn’t feel so small. Bucky groaned into Steve’s mouth as he hitched his legs around Steve’s waist, his husband strong enough to support the weight, hands gripping his ass. Steve brought them down to the ground, laying Bucky gently in the grass.

Bucky pawed at the material at Steve’s waist, pulling loose the knot in the fabric so that Steve was naked with him, and they both groaned as their cocks rubbed against the other’s skin, starting to harden.

There was a desperation between them, the air so thick with it he could’ve cut through it with a knife. It left Bucky gasping and on-edge, like his skin was vibrating and his bones were hollow.

Now this- _this_ was a reunion. The wave of it had hit them late, but three years apart was no small thing, and it had finally caught up to them. Steve had been gone, gone, _gone-_ and now he was here. They were together, and they needed to _be together_. Bucky needed to _feel him_.

Steve took both their cocks in his hand and started stroking, but Bucky gripped his wrist tightly. “Stop” he breathed, and Steve did immediately, pulling back with a concerned look.

“No, don’t-” Bucky said quickly, tugging Steve back down. “I just- I want to feel you” he said. Steve’s eyes softened, and he started to reach down for Bucky’s hole- and Bucky gripped his wrist again.

He looked Steve in the eye, face inches from each other. “I want to feel _you_. Just you” he said again, with more emphasis. “I- I haven’t felt you in so long, _please_ ”

He saw the moment understanding played across Steve’s features, and he breathed in relief. He just wanted to feel Steve. After months of nothing, he _needed_ to feel something, to know Steve was there.

Steve cupped the back of Bucky’s head and brought their foreheads together. “I’m _so sorry_ ” he said quietly, and a small tear slipped from his eye. Bucky used his other hand to grab the back of Steve’s neck to push their heads together more.

“Please” he said again, voice thin and shaky. _He needed Steve_.

Steve nodded as best he could in Bucky’s grip, and he moved to straddle Bucky’s stomach, never moving their heads apart, never breaking eye contact. Bucky’s cock rested in the cleft of Steve’s ass, but he made no move to grind upwards; for once, he didn’t feel the need to get himself off.

He felt the moment Steve took his own cock in hand, not just by the brush of his knuckles on his stomach, but through their connection, like an echo and a direct feeling all at once. He could feel Steve’s uncalloused hand tighten around his cock, could feel how he started pumping himself slowly at first to tease himself, getting himself completely hard, and then going faster.

His hand was dry as it worked the shaft. It was rough and it was quick and it definitely wasn’t Steve’s best work, but Bucky craved it with his entire being. He keened high, grasping Steve head in both his hands to keep him close, their foreheads pressed together. They breathed the same air, shifted with each small movement of the other, and Bucky ignored the wetness falling from Steve’s eyes to his cheeks as they stared into each other.

“ _Steve_ ” Bucky gasped. His arms shook.

“I’m here” he said breathlessly, cradling Bucky’s head with his other hand, and Bucky whimpered again.

“I’m here, it’s okay, I’m _right here_ ” he said, over and over, but it wasn’t enough because he couldn’t _feel him enough_ -

“ _Please, please_ ” Bucky begged, _sobbed_ , as Steve got closer, jerking himself faster. He gripped Steve tighter, arching his hips just to press himself closer. Steve was breathing fast, and then just as quickly he came, no holds barred.

Bucky whined as he felt it- felt _Steve_ \- his love, his everything, _felt him_ in all his glory and bliss and joy. He barely felt his own mirrored orgasm with the resonating relief of finally, _finally_ feeling the warmth he’d been longing for. It was an easing of an ache, a quenching of a thirst, as he held Steve above and within him.

Steve gently lowered himself over Bucky’s body, mindless of the wetness as he pulled them together, getting as much skin-on-skin as they could. It took a moment for Bucky to realize the hushing noise Steve was making was a litany of comforting words, and another moment to realize the tears on his face weren’t only Steve’s anymore.

“ _Please_ ” he said again, hushed and subdued. What he was asking for he didn’t know, but Steve kept answering him with comfort and apologies.

They lay like that on the ground, burrowing into each other.

“Buck,” Steve swallowed, “we need to talk about this”

Bucky nodded wordlessly. There was no question about it, but not yet. They were too raw for it.

* * *

Natasha had a smarmy smile on her face as Bucky cast her a resentful look at being kicked out. Though unhappy at having to sit outside naked, he left without argument- none of them were stupid, you didn’t summon _anything_ with the kind of mark Bucky carried. It wasn;t like Bucky would be interested, anyway.

Which left Natasha alone with a very gorgeous witch and impending succubus to play with.

“You are familiar with this?” Wanda asked as she drew out a summoning circle. Natasha was laying out spare pillows to cushion them on the floor.

“I’ve seen a few summonings done at the harlot’s guild, but they had me working as security- couldn’t play on the job”

“Then you know all safety precautions, yes?”

“Oh yeah”

Wanda made a humming noise, finishing the glyphs. She cast an assessing look over Natasha, who’d stripped in preparation. Wanda had a slight blush of heat in her cheeks, but otherwise she had the calm air of a professional.

“I like mouth, you are okay taking bottom half of succubus?”

Natasha smirked, “It won’t be an issue”

Wanda cracked a smile, her excitement for the coming games evident. “Then we begin” she said.

Natasha was used to the whole rigmarole of fiend summoning: the chanting (rhythmic), the glowing runes (dull), the hiss as the fabric of reality unzipped (looked like a vagina, go figure), the flames of unnatural colour (magenta)- the demonic cry (or moan, in this case)- and _voila_ , one succubus.

She was large, at least seven feet tall- if she were standing. As it was, she was reclined on the floor, leaned up on her elbows. She had a second set of arms that were running along her body, accentuating her shape. She had rolls of fat with black stretch marks, giving the resemblance of tiger stripes along her crimson-red skin.

Her eyes were shrouded by heavy bangs, her hair thick and luscious with two pointed horns poking from the top. She smiled around adorably small fangs, and a set of dual tongues peeked out, licking along her plump lips.

Natasha’s eyes traveled down her body, taking in her breasts, her stomach, her wet warmth easily seen between her spread thighs. Her long, thick tail shifted between her legs, which became furred at the knee down, ending in a pair of cloven hooves that tapped on the wooden floor.

The succubus made a purring sound as the two women ogled her, and she crooked a finger to come nearer. Wanda approached without hesitance, pulling her robe up to reveal herself to be naked underneath, and the succubus let out a pleased _hmm_ as Wanda practically plopped herself down on the demon’s face. The succubus caught her easily, using one set of arms to keep her up and the other to support Wanda in place, leaving the witch comfortably seated on her face.

Natasha only got a brief glance of the double tongue as they slithered out to taste before Wanda’s robes fell back down, hiding the view. Wanda sighed contently, shoulders easing down as she titled her head back, eyes closed. Her snake hair coiled into a thick rope similar to a braid, and it gave Natasha an unfettered look at her face and the pleasure that was building there.

The sound of a light tapping pulled Natasha’s gaze downward, and she swallowed. The succubus had coiled her tail, running the thick curve of it between her legs. The smooth skin glistened as it rubbed back and forth against her cunt, and her thighs kept squeezing as she fidgeted, causing the tapping noise as her hooves moved against the floor.

Natasha slowly knelt down, setting her knees on either side of the demon’s legs. She ran a hand up from her furred ankles to the smooth crease at her thighs, earning a muffled purr. She kept kept going with her one hand, laying her palm wide on the demon’s stomach to feel her padded muscles contract with each grinding movement against her own tail.

Natasha’s other hand dipped to between the demon’s legs, running alongside the tail to feel the slick wetness that had gathered there and collecting some on her fingers. She brought her hand to her mouth to taste, and closed her eyes as she licked at her fingers. It was like… ambrosia, but with a spice that melted on her tongue. Her mouth started salivating for more, and the thought of burying her head between those thighs didn’t sound bad at all.

But no, she had better control than that, and she wasn’t stupid. One taste was fine, two was adventurous, but three was a death wish. She’d seen what happened when one indulged too much in the demonic pleasures.

Instead she sidled up closer, lowering herself onto the thick swell of the succubus’ tail. She was already wet from the sight of both Wanda grinding and the succubus touching herself, and the demon’s tail slid against her smoothly, eliciting a gasp.

Natasha moaned as the tail ran along her clit, the flesh hot and somehow heavy, and she felt her own pulse between her legs. Her hips snapped forward, and she sat more of her weight down to press harder, harder, _yes, just like that._

Her breaths came quicker as she rode the back and forth movement, pushing against her clit, and oh, _oh_ , she was so close already.

The pulsating pleasure grew between her legs, pushing her further towards the edge. Warmth flushed her neck and cheeks, and her mouth fell open as she panted harder, heart beating in time with the pulse in her core.

She cracked an eyes open, seeing Wanda in similar disarray. Her hips were thrusting so hard it would’ve rocked a normal person, but the demon’s strength was enough to keep her steady, even as she trembled with her own pleasure. The three of them fell into a synchronicity, the demon setting the pace with her tongues and tail.

Natasha felt a building warmth under her hand, and she looked down to see the demon’s belly glowing red, like there were embers under her skin. She could see the shadowed outline of her ribs under her flesh, the light ending where her breasts began. More warmth surged from her groin, traveling up her stomach to her chest, leaving her flush, and whether that was the succubus magic or her own arousal was irrelevant.

Wanda was the first to go, letting out a pitched cry as she came, quivering on the demon’s face. The succubus picked up the pace with her tail, and Natasha breathed harshly at the increased speed, swiveling her hips to get the angle just right, to get the slick glide against her clit, back and forth and back and forth until the edge she’d been teetering on came upon her, and she went over, shuddering and grinding harder as she gasped through her orgasm.

Her orgasm kept hitting her in waves, and she nearly fell forward as the succubus lifted her hips, thrusting upwards into her own tail and the pressure Natasha’s put on in, hips snapping in her own orgasm.

The three of them rode the wave together, and with panting breaths they came down. The succubus lowered herself back to the floor, and Wanda slid off to the side, flopping on her back to catch her breath. Natasha stayed crouched over the demon, slouched as she leaned forward, forehead brushing the demon’s midriff. She twitched as the succubus slowly pulled her tail away, running the length along Natasha’s cunt as she uncoiled it, letting it thump heavily onto the floor.

The three of them lay panting, the demon letting out a strange purr on every exhale, her tongues lolling between her wet lips.

Wanda titled her head to look at Natasha, her face reddened for the exertion.

“Is good, yes?”

“Very good” Natasha said, smiling loosely.

* * *

Clint followed Pietro back to the cabin, laughing with him as he finished the story of how his sister had once mistaken a boa for him.

“-and she is explaining new ritual she is learning when it yawns, and now she is getting offended, asks if she is boring me. But actually I am in ceiling, trying to not laugh” he wheezed in laughter.

Clint chuckled along with the story as he dropped onto the hut’s roof. “Did she even notice at any point?”

“No! She eventually say goodnight, _kisses snake on cheek,_ and go to bed!” Pietro snickered, and Clint barked at that.

“Snake eventually leaves, and I take place next day. She does not see difference!” he laughed, coiling in the centre of the roof.

“Oh man, that’s a hoot” Clint said, wiping a tear from his eyes. His laughter petered off as he looked down, spotting Bucky and Steve. They were sitting side-by-side against a tree, heads leaned in and talking. Steve was turned away from him, but he could see dried tear tracks on Bucky’s cheeks.

He turned back to Pietro. “Hey, thanks for the good time, it’s nice to just shoot the shit with someone”

Pietro nodded. “Yes, I forget how good it is to speak with someone not my sister. Is not bad life here, but sometimes is good to see other people”

Pietro held his arm out, and Clint grasped it. They shook amicably, sharing a smile. “Safe travels, my friend” Pietro said, then he let go, shifting back into a snake.

“And good days to you” Clint said in reply, smiling as Pietro waved his forked tongue at him.

He sat at the edge of the roof and shimmied down, landing on his toes.

Both men turned to look at at Clint, their eyes red and tired. They’d clearly been in the midst of a heavy topic. He’d leave them to it, except the sun was making its descent and he had no plans of guiding them through the dark.

“Sorry to cut this short, but we gotta head out soon if we don’t wanna spend the night here”

Steve nodded, and he stood, pulling Bucky up with him. Bucky grabbed Clint’s shoulder and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Thanks for coming for me” Bucky said into his neck, his voice cracking.

Clint brought his arms around him. “Yeah man, anytime” he assured.

As they let go, he turned back to the hut. “So is Natasha in there or…?”

Bucky shrugged. “She was when I left. She and the witch in were gonna summon a succubus”

Clint whistled, raising his eyebrows. “A succubus, huh?”

“Eh, they’re okay I guess”

Both Clint and Steve snorted. He’d concede they weren’t Bucky’s taste, but anyone with even a small inclination to women would be hard-pressed to say they didn’t see the allure. Those ladies were _thicc_ \- and the demonic seduction also didn’t hurt.

“Well I didn’t literally bust my ass to leave anyone behind” he muttered, walking up to the door. He knocked briskly, calling Natasha’s name loudly. There was a muffled clatter from behind the door, and a moment later it opened, revealing a disheveled Natasha. She was in a red robe loosely wrapped around her shoulders, showing off a large collection of hickeys and bites.

“Eh?” she asked blearily.

“I’m taking Bucky back, you coming?”

Natasha blinked. “Oh, no. No, I’m fine. I’ll dance to the beach when I’m done, just-” she ran a hand over her cheek, “just don’t set off without me” and then she closed the door in his face.

Clint let out a breath. He turned back to the guys, cradling the dried vine in his arm. “You two good to head out?”

“Yeah, we just had some stuff to work out” Bucky said, sharing a sad smile with Steve.

“Awesome” Clint said, then pushed past the two towards the thick trees. “You can wrap that up at the beach” he said, leading them off.


	9. Chapter 9

“Good luck to you!” Sam called as his crew pushed off on their haphazard raft. Goose towed them away, leaving Steve, Bucky, Natasha and Clint on the nearest shore they’d come to.

The crew had been civil, but after everything that had happened, they saw the four of them as ill omen, and wanted to be rid of their passengers as quickly as possible. Sam and Riley had offered to step in, but Steve hadn’t wanted to push it, and Clint agreed. Bucky and Natasha were indifferent, uncaring what route they took, though Bucky’s mouth thinned at the prospect of having to trek through an unknown forest.

As the sailors disappeared around a bend in the coastline, the four of them turned to face the imposing woods. The trees were tightly packed and the underbrush was thick, no visible paths in sight.

Clint reach into his pocket and pulled out a ball of moss. He whispered something to it, and then suddenly a green blur was running into the woods, disappearing without disturbing a single leaf.

“Give him a few minutes to run, then I’ll have him scout the area” Clint said as he moved towards the brush. “I’m gonna get a lay of the woods, you guys stay here. Start camp if you want, but I can get that going when I’m back” he said, then disappeared just as naturally as his familiar.

Steve watched how he melded into the environment like it was water, and he raised his brow. Clint hadn’t been so stealthy on the island, but then again, he’d had Steve to slow him down. Without anyone to guide, he could forge ahead at his own pace.

“You weren’t kidding about his skill” Steve commented.

“Like I said, best on the continent. He’s got an entire waitlist of adventurers asking him to join their party” Bucky said as he seated himself on a large piece of driftwood.

Natasha eyed where Clint had disappeared. “He’s easy to lose when he does that” she muttered.

“Yeah, he’s dropped my ass more than once like that. Always comes back though, usually with food or something”

Natasha squinted at the trees with a glare of suspicion. Steve hummed, taking one more look into the forest before moving to the outskirts to find wood for a fire.

* * *

Bucky had gotten a successful fire going while Steve collected a decent pile of wood to make it last the night. Natasha had only sat back and watched, pulling out a dagger and stone to sharpen the edge.

Now the three of them sat in the sand, him and Steve with their backs against the driftwood log, their arms wrapped around each other, Natasha on the opposite side, sharpening her third dagger as the sun set.

“-and it was guarded by a pair of lava bears, so I spent an hour tossing them food scraps and earning their trust. I got close enough to break their chains and they ran off into the magma swamp-”

Bucky had his eyes half-closed, head on Steve’s shoulder as he listened to him recount one of his adventures. Three years apart and they had plenty to catch up on. Bucky himself had been part of seven heists this year alone, and he’d be telling Steve about each and every one, time permitting.

Steve stopped talking and turned when the bushes rustled. Bucky looked up to see Clint coming out of the forest.

“Everything okay?” Steve asked.

“No obvious dangers, we’re good for the night. Let me get supper started and I’ll brief you guys on the land” Clint said, unslinging five rabbits from his shoulder, along with a small bundle of roots and berries. Never let it be said anyone went hungry camping with Clint.

“It’s basic wilds, nothing big in the area for miles. There’s a lot of catfish orchids though, which could be either good or bad for us” Clint started to explain as he got two of the rabbits on spits, preparing the remaining three more slowly.

“Catfish orchids?” Steve asked.

“Yeah, they’re, er, I guess fuck-me-nots if you know them by that name”

Steve nodded in sudden understanding. “ _Ah_ , yeah. Go on”

“No no, wait, what are these?” Bucky asked, leaning up curiously. He wanted to know what had caused the subtle blush in Steve’s cheeks just now.

“It’s just… carnivorous plants” Steve quickly said.

Bucky slowly turned to give Steve a pointed look. Before he could ask, Clint went on.

“Yeah, the forest’s lousy with ‘em. The way they hunt depends on a local population to wander into the forest, which either means we’re near a city or a war zone. Very small chance it’s, like, a wizard or something protecting their lair, but a war zone is most likely”

“Why a war zone?”

“You always get stragglers in battles, deserters or retreating injured or whoever’s chasing ‘em. Locals usually cull these things and lair bosses don’t use them as traps too much; there’s _way_ better plants to protect an area if that’s what they wanted”

Steve nodded. “Well we’re somewhere off the coast of the _G_ _é_ _obar_ continent, so that narrows it down to about three of the major wars”

“What? No, this is the Gulf of _Salua_. We left from Toronto only a day before we wrecked, we can’t have drifted that far” Clint said.

Steve looked like he was about to argue, but stopped, face going pensive. “I _was_ fighting the leviathan for a few days…” he muttered thoughtfully.

“So that puts us where, Prague?” Natasha asked.

“Maybe, Prague’s definitely got a big war happening with the Aarakocra and the… I wanna say _worm people_ but that doesn’t seem right” Clint said, pausing to think on it before dismissing his thought. “It’s not important. But if that’s the case then we’re not too far off course, maybe an extra week on foot to the guild”

“Which guild are we talking about?” Steve asked.

_Right._ Bucky hadn’t told him why Clint was traveling. Or why Natasha was with them.

“Oh, the harlot’s guild headquarters up in Broadway”

Steve rubbed his chin. “Broadway, huh? I actually know a decent seer there, we could see about finding that planar chain. It’s a big city, might find a chain-smith too”

Clint just hummed noncommittally, finishing the remaining rabbits and replacing them on the spit. He handed the two finished rabbits to Bucky and Steve each, then set the pelts aside to dry.

“I say we move westwards tomorrow, take bearing from there” Clint said. “In the meantime, Steve, gimme your feet, I gotta take your measurements”

“ _Mm_?” Steve said around a mouthful of rabbit.

“We’re hiking tomorrow and you don’t have any shoes. I’m making you a pair of moccasins” he said, indicating the rabbit pelts currently drying.

Steve swallowed quickly. “Oh, yes, thank you” he said, smiling. “You wouldn’t believe how often I lose shoes”

“And how often is that, Stevie? How often are you losing your shoes? It wouldn’t happen to always be in a giant fire blast, would it?” Bucky asked.

“It’s, it’s not _that_ often” Steve blustered.

“Uh-huh” Bucky huffed, unconvinced.

* * *

The next day was filled with hiking, which was about as dull as adventuring got, in Bucky’s opinion. The catfish plants were interesting, though he kept trying to picture how Steve could’ve possibly died to these things.

At first he’d thought they were forest nymphs, an easy enough assumption given how they were gorgeous and naked women, their skin and hair green and vibrant. Then Clint had pointed out their hair, which twisted back into a ponytail that morphed into a vine.

“The vine connects them to their home flower, which is the actual plant. These ‘women’ are just extensions of the flower, like a fruit. They lure people in with sex, but then the pollen make you sleep and then the plant slowly digests you” Clint had explained.

It had been novel to see them at first, but after the sixth lure they just became part of the scenery to Bucky. He couldn’t exactly _appreciate_ them like the other three.

He did enjoy giving Steve hell for it though.

“So was it just the one time you got pulled in? Or were you dying left and right to these things?”

Steve rubbed the back of his neck as he mumbled an answer. Bucky leaned in, putting a hand behind his ear, “I’m sorry, what was that?” he asked.

He mumbled a little louder, “I said it was twice and `the second `time she` seemed `nice and `I thought `it would `be a `good time````````"

“Oh, well if she was _nice_ ”

Steve winced. “I forgot they were deadly”

“You forgot these things _eat people_ ”

“I, it’s- just, just look at them! Who could say no to that face?” Steve countered, motioning to another lure. She waved sweetly at them, winking suggestively. She arched her back a little as they watched, emphasizing her breasts. Steve coughed and looked away, avoiding Bucky’s disappointed gaze.

Bucky let out a sigh. He loved his husband, he really did, but he had the survival instincts of a brick sometimes. Phoenixes were hit-or-miss like that.

He spent the rest of the hike talking with Steve about _other things_ , like trading more stories of their adventures. Occasionally Clint would fall back to join in the conversation when the forest thinned, but for the most part he stayed ahead as trailblazer, Natasha right behind on his tail.

She hadn’t liked how he’d disappeared yesterday, Bucky could see how it grated on her. Maybe he’d ask Clint to fetch them some more berries for supper, if only to see Natasha huff and puff.

They had to take several breaks on their hike, and Bucky wasn’t ashamed to admit it was because of him. He couldn’t be blamed for having a condition.

“Fuck. _Fuck_ ” he ground out, eyes screwed shut as he thumped his head back against the tree he was leaning on. He had to keep his eyes closed, the sight of Steve on his knees with his mouth full was almost too much. He was barely standing with Steve’s tongue doing that _thing_ while he jacked himself to Bucky’s pleasure.

Their orgasms hit at the same time. It hit fast too, though neither had been aiming to make this long; Clint and Natasha _were_ waiting on them after all.

Steve swallowed cleanly while he made a mess on the forest floor, and then pulled off. They were both breathing heavy, and Steve leaned his forehead against Bucky’s hip while they caught their breath.

“Think three more and you’ll be good?” Steve asked.

Bucky swallowed. “What, right now?”

The answer was yes, or course. He could do three more right now. He could do ten. His refractory period had all but disappeared with this curse.

“No, just, throughout the day. You’re averaging about eight to twelve on slower days, figure we can keep track and not overdo it”

Bucky snorted, ran a hand through Steve’s hair. “You’ve been keeping track?”

He felt Steve’s breath huff against his stomach. “You been doing this for four months pal, you bet your ass I started keeping track”

“Obviously I ain’t saying no to more, but no promises I can stop at three”

“We can try though”

“Sure”

Silence for a beat.

“So you wanna schedule it or…?”

Bucky smirked. “Oh yeah, real sexy. Get my six o’ clock dicking”

Steve swatted his thigh. “I’m just asking!”

“I know, I know” Bucky chuckled, ruffling Steve’s hair as he thought about it. Joking aside, they might have to actually schedule sex if they were rationing his orgasms.

_Rationing orgasms._ Ugh, he couldn’t think of a worse phrase if he tried. But still…

“You know I’m always on? It’s like I’m good to go anytime- I wasn’t kidding about getting those three in now, and I think…” he looked up to the canopy, “I think we do gotta schedule it, a little. Every few hours maybe, and before bed or I’m just gonna wake up hard in the middle of the night”

Steve nodded against his stomach. “We can do that”

“And, uh, if the one before bed could be, I dunno, extra or something, that’d be good”

“Extra?”

“You know. Intense. Really make me see stars. I can go longer between if my last one takes more outta me”

“You guys still going?” Clint suddenly shouted from deeper in the trees, “I’m not rushing you but we’re burning daylight here!”

“I guess we should get back, ey?” Steve smirked, getting back on his feet.

“Yeah” Bucky muttered, tucking himself back in his pants.

“Hey,” Steve said, slinging an arm over Bucky’s shoulders as they walked back, “it’s a good plan, we can do this. And since you brought up needing it, ah, _extra_ , before bed, I actually had a proposal I’ve been meaning to bring up that would work perfectly for this…”

What Steve brought up had also been something Bucky considered for a while, and the two of them discussed it while they got back on their hike. Then some more during their next three ‘breaks’ while they got each other off.

They hashed it out in hushed tones, glancing up at Clint every now and then as they negotiated logistics. Natasha had shot them a few curious looks, but she didn’t comment. Bucky grimaced when Steve brought up the issue of supplies. There was an easy solution that Bucky _was_ willing to lower his standards for, but it would mean a hit to his pride.

“Alright guys,” Clint called from the front as the sun started setting, “I think this is as far as we go for the day”

Natasha let her pack drop to the ground, surveying the small clearing Clint had brought them to. “We camping here?”

“it’s a good a place as any” Clint said as he unslung the makeshift sack he’d made with the leftover pelts. “And it’s got an ember tree so we don’t gotta set a fire” he added, pointing to a tree with a large crack down the centre that revealed the insides, which were slowly smoldering with a bright red glow.

Natasha hummed, looking into the woods thoughtfully.

Bucky sidled up beside Clint as he was clearing the ground of stones for their bedding.

“Hey, uh,” Bucky hesitated, his pride still trying to wrestle him, but he powered on, “you think there’s any of that sap stuff you mentioned awhile back? That can be used as slick?”

Clint looked up from where he was kneeling, raising a brow. “I thought you’d rather die than put sap on your dick. Also it’s not sap”

Bucky waved dismissively. “Fine, tree juice or whatever. Things’ve changed, and it’s not going on my dick anyway”

“Oh?”

Bucky crossed his arms, ignoring Clint’s teasing tone. He had half a mind to not make the offer at all, but, well, Steve had been pretty enthused about it…

Okay, _he_ was pretty enthused about it. And impatient. He wasn’t waiting until they got back to _civilization_ for this.

“It’s for you” Bucky blurted.

Clint’s eyebrow ticked, unable to go any higher. Amateur move on his part, you never raised your brow all the way at the start of a conversation. “For me?”

“For your dick. To go in me” Bucky grimaced at the awkwardness of his words. “Gods, you’re making this hard” he groused.

Clint huffed a laugh. “That’s all you, buddy”

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a moment to work out his words. He’d never had to proposition Clint like this, it always just fell naturally, but with Steve and Natasha a few feet away and _watching_ …

“Look. Steve and I talked, and we wanna fuck. With you. You interested?” he asked quickly.

The excited grin the broke out on Clint’s face was answer enough.

* * *

Natasha volunteered to take first watch. And second watch. And possibly third, depending how long the evening went. She didn’t say she’d do it in so many words, but the implication had been clear as she disappeared into thin air.

With the hungry look in Bucky’s eyes, Clint was guessing she’d be taking quite a few shifts. That was fine though, it wasn’t like elves actually _needed_ sleep.

Clint had found the silcia sap with no issue, and then things had moved quickly from there between the groping and the making out. Clint was familiar with Bucky’s forcefulness in his kissing, but as he went back and forth between Clint and Steve, he started to notice a sudden gentling to it.

The mystery of that was quickly solved when Steve pulled Bucky’s head back by the hair and took Clint’s lips in his own, fucking into Clint’s mouth with his tongue and nipping at him with his teeth. Clint felt a whimper bubbling in his chest from the kiss alone, all power and demand, a take with no give that had his knees weak. It was no wonder Bucky had been cowed.

The tatters of their clothes came off easily, and then Steve was on his back with Bucky on his knees over him, moaning into Steve’s shoulder. Steve bit at his neck while talking Clint through prepping Bucky. Not that Clint needed any guidance, but hot damn did the rough timbre of Steve telling him to _a_ _dd another finger, you can take it baby can’t you? Gonna be sweet for us?_ get Clint just a little harder.

“Oh, fuck, Clint” Bucky moaned. “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck m-”

Steve’s clasped a hand over Bucky’s mouth and silenced him, earning a petulant grunt. Steve ignored him, making eye contact with Clint.

“He’s told you about our connection, right?” he asked, eyes smoldering.

Clint nodded, struck mute with the look Steve was giving him. It was the look Clint usually got when someone was about to make him _take it_.

“Then you know everything you’re doing to Buck, you’re doing to me too”

Clint swallowed. He’d known on a level that they felt each other, but he hadn’t exactly thought about the implications. His gaze cut down to his fingers currently buried in Bucky’s ass and how they were, in a way, inside Steve too.

Steve, who was sweating and breathing in controlled breaths. Clint experimentally curled his fingers against Bucky’s prostate, feeling Bucky tense, seeing his spine curve, and hearing his moan through Steve’s hand. The muscles of Steve’s shoulders bunched for a second, and his smoldering look turned fiery at Clint’s stunt.

Clint swallowed again.

“And since I know what makes Bucky feel good,” he continued, other arm wrapping around to push Bucky’s head back down against his shoulder “I’ll tell you exactly what to do. And we’re just going ignore Bucky. Sound good?” Steve asked with a smile that was all bite.

Bucky whimpered and clenched on Clint’s fingers.

_Yeah, me too buddy._

“Yeah, we’re good” Clint nodded fervently.

“Good. Now keep up what you’re doing”

Clint kept up what he was doing.

He kept going until Bucky couldn’t support himself with his arms and fell forward, chest-to-chest with Steve, still on his knees with his ass up and his back curved. He kept going until Steve was visibly fighting not to let his eyes roll up into his skull.

“Alright, alright, _shit Clint_ , that’s good. You good to fuck ‘im?” Steve gasped.

“ _Yes_ ” was all Clint could say as he pulled his fingers out, making Bucky gasp wetly. He lined himself up, then looked to Steve for his signal.

Steve gazed at him through half-lidded eyes. “You know how much of this I’m feeling?” he asked, and the question caught Clint off-guard. It took a second to interpret the question, and then another to actually think about it.

“Uh, like, you felt my fingers in you?”

The corner of Steve’s mouth ticked upwards. “Yeah, but it’s more than that. I can feel my hand on the back of Bucky’s neck. I can feel _your_ hand on his hip. I can feel where our bodies touch. The sweat, the heat. I can feel how his cock aches” he rasped, and Bucky let out another whimper.

“Now penetration isn’t my favourite, and that’s just a preference, but Bucky’s a fucking slut for it,” he closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against the side of Bucky’s head as he spoke, “and I feel how good it is for him. He makes _me_ a fucking slut for it”

Bucky shivered. Clint could feel the tremor in legs as he nearly thrust his hips from those words alone.

Then Steve opened his eyes, and Clint swallowed at the intensity in them. “So when I tell you to fuck Bucky, I mean _fuck_ _him hard_. You understand?”

Clint nodded. Gods, he was about to fuck to men simultaneously, and wasn’t that a rush he hadn’t expected?

Clint started to push in slowly, eliciting a hum from Bucky, but he was barely a half-inch in when Steve called his name and stopped him.

“Hmm?” he asked dazedly.

“Don’t be gentle” Steve ordered, eyes turning just a hint of glassy. “I can take it”

Bucky whined and clawed at the ground, but held his position admirably otherwise. Clint was jealous, _he_ wanted to be in that position. To let someone else dictate everything while knowing exactly what he wanted, unquestioningly.

At the same time he had to marvel, because Bucky didn’t _give_ control like this. Not that Clint had ever seen. Bucky was always active whether he was on top of bottom, and seeing this side of him come out for Steve was something the behold.

“ _Clint_ ” Steve growled, and Clint’s thoughts shifted back to the task at hand. He locked eyes with Steve again, which was both a mistake and a catalyst that spurred him to shove forward into Bucky in one hard snap of his hips.

Bucky’s breath punched out and ended in a high noise, while Steve growled like he was swearing.

He spared a second to appreciate the grip Bucky’s ass had on his cock before pulling back, then shoving in with as much force as he could. He started up a brutal pace like Steve wanted, and he was rewarded with a whispered _good boy_ from Steve, though whether he was talking to him or Bucky was up in the air.

“Grab him tighter, and, and- _fuck_ \- change the angle” Steve instructed. His mouth was parted and his eyes were closed, face shoved up into Bucky’s hair to inhale his scent on every breath.

Clint complied, every word sending hot pleasure pooling in his gut. He’d been with Bucky enough to know which angle Steve wanted him to get, the angle _everyone_ wanted to get, and he knew he’d gotten it when Bucky broke his silence.

“ _Oh, fuck!_ ” he cried, and he shoved back to meet Clint’s next thrust.

The new angle also had Steve gasping, mouth wide open and eyes half-closed. He reach up with one hand to grab a handful of Bucky’s hair and tug _hard_ , making the both of them gasp again. He hugged Bucky close and started murmuring something Clint couldn’t hear, but he caught a few words like _baby_ and _love you_ and _take it for me_.

Then Steve tilted Bucky’s head to whisper right at his ear, his lips brushing along the skin. That close and Bucky would hear every breath like a gale, would feel the heat and the dampness of it. Now, Clint _knew_ Bucky didn’t have an ear fetish, actually didn’t like them being touched for obvious reason. It was one hell of an erogenous zone for an elf, every whisper was as good as a tug of his cock. He was leaning into it with Steve though, hanging off each word with wanton desperation.

Then Steve’s tongue darted out and gave the smallest of kitten licks to the shell of his ear, and it had had Bucky jolting so hard Clint nearly slipped out. He marveled at the level of trust that took, how much faith Bucky was putting in Steve not to overdo it and send him into a day-long coma.

Which must have been really doing it for him because Bucky started getting antsy, his whines getting just a little louder and little breathier between gasps-

“ _Oh_ , don’t stop, _don’t fucking stop_ ” Steve moaned, all authority gone as he gripped Bucky even tighter. Clint could see the muscles in his arms strain with how hard he was holding, one arm across the shoulders and the other tangled in Bucky’s hair, holding him steady for Clint to rail.

Clint tightened his grip at Bucky’s hips as he panted, pleasure pooling heavier with every snap of his hips, shoving all the way in with each thrust. Sweat beaded down his back and dried in the cool night air. Two more thrusts and suddenly Bucky tensed and whined high in his throat.

His eyes widened as he watched both men start to come, climaxing at the same time, the _exact_ same time, because they were one and the same in this moment. Clint was doing that, he was giving both of them this pleasure, and it was a heady feeling.

Steve’s eyes rolled up and Bucky cried out incoherently, the both of them going still and tight _oh, fuck, fuck,_ Bucky was tight. Clint’s grunted at the feel of Bucky squeezing around his cock.

After another second, the two of them went limp, breathing fast and collapsing into each other. Clint quickly caught Bucky at the hips to keep him up on his knees. He held still while they caught their breaths, and stole a glance down at where he and Bucky were joined. He ran his thumb along the edge of Bucky’s rim and shivered at how he tightened briefly at the contact.

“That was… _very_ extra” Bucky gasped, then chuckled breathlessly. “We should do this _every_ night”

Clint grinned. “I wouldn’t say no to that” he said, giving a little thrust and enjoying the ensuing _uhng_ from Bucky. He still hadn’t come, to engrossed in watching the two men in front of him, but oh, the possibilities of what they could do. Clint’s dick twitched inside Bucky’s ass just imagining the different positions and how they’d play out with the husbands’ connection.

“Hey Steve, whatta you think of that?” Bucky asked after readjusting to support himself better. “We could make it part of our nightly ritual, fuck me and tuck me into bed, eh?” he said with a grin in his voice.

No response from Steve.

“Steve?”

There was a rustle from the trees above, then the sounds of branches snapping as something big fell from the canopy. Clint’s eyes shot up to track it, and he watched as a blurred shape fell with a dull _thump_ onto the dirt.

Natasha.

She lay limp where she’d fallen, and Clint spotted a small tuft of red sticking out of her neck. He quickly looked down to inspect Steve.

“Aw shit” he muttered, spotting the same red tuft at Steve’s thigh.

No sooner had he identified it did he feel the slapping sting of a dart on his ass cheek.

“Aw shit” he repeated, then swayed as his muscles started to loosen without his control.

“What the fuck?” Bucky swore, but his voice sounded underwater.

Clint turned to the forest, and he caught sight of a multitude of eyes reflecting the light of the ember tree, all of them staring from the shadows of the forest. The eyes shifted and spun like constellations, or… no, _he_ shifted. To the ground. The ground on his face.

The last thing he heard was the murmur of small voices hissing to each others, coming closer…

* * *

“I think we can all agree this is Natasha’s fault” Bucky said sullenly from his cage.

“Now hold on, that ain’t fair. Everyone messes up a watch sometimes. _I_ messed up on the island not three days ago”

Bucky turned his head sardonically, looking at Steve through the bars. “ _You_ were fighting a leviathan for days, _she_ was fully rested”

“All I’m saying is mistakes happen”

Bucky scoffed.

“You guys think they’ve got our stuff nearby?” Clint interrupted. He’d been rubbing at his neck nervously since they’d woken.

Bucky shrugged. It wasn’t like they had much stuff to begin with. Clothes might’ve been nice though.

“Can’t really say for sure” Steve commented. “Is that a problem?”

Clint scanned the floor below anxiously. “It’s just that they took my enchanted totem, so, you know, rats might start trying to kill me”

“We’re in a castle though? I thought you said it was only forest rats”

“Yeah, well, this castle’s in the middle of an enchanted forest, nuts to the rules now”

Bucky sat up more stiffly. “I thought you said this forest was _normal_ ”

“ _Okay,_ sorry the boss in this area is super powerful and casts subtle enchantments! Fuck _me_ I guess” Clint retorted, eyes never straying from the floor.

“He doesn’t mean that Clint” Steve reassured. “We just got caught with our pants down, he’s taking it a little hard”

“We got caught with our pants _off_ , and I didn’t even get to go a second time”

Steve gave him a pointed look.

Bucky raised his arms irritably. “It was good sex! I’m allowed to be upset it didn’t end well!”

“This isn’t helping” Clint muttered.

“I don’t see you coming up with any bright ideas”

“Well, Nat’ll come back for us I’m sure” Steve said, indicating the fourth empty cage that presumably Natasha had been held in. Bucky could only assume she’d danced away before they woke. That Steve was under the impression she was looking for a way to break them out was laughably optimistic.

In Bucky’s opinion, she was holed up somewhere with a nice view to see how this all went down.

“Let’s not depend on her for escape” Bucky said instead.

“Oh, of course not” Steve agreed readily.

“Hey, what about your familiar? Anything we can work with on that end?”

Clint shook his head. “The castle’s enchanted too, he can’t break through”

Bucky sighed. “Get busy escapin’ or get busy dyin’ I guess” he muttered, then summoned a dagger to his hand.

“Any of you got eyes on a lock?” he asked the other two. From his own vantage he couldn’t find anything resembling a door to the giant bird-cage he was suspended in.

“I don’t think these things have one” Steve noted idly, poking at the ceiling of his.

Bucky felt around for a seam, and his lips thinned as it started to look like less and less of a possibility. Nothing in the bars, ceiling or floor. How had they gotten _in_ these things?

“Gods dammit, I think the doors are magicked” Bucky complained, making his dagger disappear.

“Oh, that’s not good” Steve frowned.

“Aaaand there’s rats” Clint said, staring down. Bucky followed his line of sight to see a line of about a dozen rats come out of a hole in the wall. They skittered and circled directly below Clint’s cage.

“That’s not too bad” Bucky observed. It was hardly even a swarm.

“Say that again when they’re biting me” Clint said resentfully.

Bucky was about to retort when a loud scrapping noise echoed from the darkened hallway, getting closer fast. All three of them sat up a little taller, as much as the cages would allow, waiting to see who was about to come greet them. A minion to taunt them perhaps? Or maybe the boss themselves, here to make a grand speech.

When its scaled head first entered the light of the torches, Bucky quietly swore.

It was a _dragon_. No more than an adult by the size of it, and a green one too. It entered the chamber, easily taking up most of the space with its enormity and sending the rats scurrying to hide.

It was eye-level with their cages, and it growled when it saw Natasha’s was empty.

“Where has your fourth one gone?” it growled, spiked frills rising like hackles.

Now this was the tricky part. Whoever spoke next would have to be _very careful_ what they said. One wrong word and they could be eaten, or roasted, or whatever it was a dragon did to adventurers. Steve was probably best to be their face in negotiation, he was charismatic enough and experienced with this sort of-

“What fourth one?” Clint asked, and both Bucky and Steve looked at him sharply.

_Oh no._

The dragon growled again. “My minions spoke of _four_ ”

“Are you sure they didn’t say, uh, _whore?_ ”

_Oh, Clint no_. Bucky grimaced painfully. They were getting eaten for sure now.

The dragon barred its teeth. “And why would they say there are _whore_ trespassers in my land?”

Clint opened his arms as wide, a roguish smile of his face. “Because we’re whores!”

_Bad! Bad bluff!_ was all Bucky had time to think of before the dragon cast its gaze at him and Steve.

Rules of the party, unfortunately, stated you always back up your lead’s bluff. No matter how stupid, idiotic, or unbelievable; commit to the bit- because what was worse than a stupid lie was being _caught_ in a stupid lie. Which left Bucky and Steve suddenly smiling coquettishly to fit the role.

“You are whores?”

“Well, harlots is the professional term, but yeah. On our way to the harlot’s guild actually. Me and my apprentices got a little turned around you see-”

_Apprentices?!_

“-and I’m sure your minions explained the state they found us in”

The dragon blinked, its frills falling back.

“Yes, they, _hem_ , mentioned your states. Of undress, obviously. And, they may have mentioned… activities”

“Yeah, well these two needed some training, am I right fellas?” Clint asked the two of them, and he and Steve shrugged in equal amounts of fake abashment.

“We just thought we’d practice before bed is all” Steve said in his best _golly-gee-sorry-mister_ voice that Bucky hated.

“But all that aside, I realize now that we must have crossed into your property without even realizing it. We were really sidetracked with all those catfish orchids you have around here. If we didn’t know what they were, we would’ve been caught in them _for sure_. Very clever by the way, your plants _completely_ distracted us, had us right turned around” Clint went on, voice smooth and appeasing, making the dragon preen at the compliment.

“And _sincerely_ , we apologize for our mistake. Is there any way we could… _make it up to you?_ ” he asked so suggestively that Bucky had to force himself not to make a gagging noise at the cheap line.

“Perhaps there can be an… _arrangement_ ” the dragon purred back, grinning and showing off the rows of knife-sharp teeth.

Bucky closed his eyes. He didn’t know what he was more upset at; that Clint was flirting with the dragon or that it was _working_.

“What did you have in mind?” Clint asked demurely.

The dragon reached up with its huge clawed hand under Clint’s cage. “Let’s take this somewhere more _comfortable_ and discuss the details” it said, and hissed some words in a language Bucky couldn’t understand.

The bottom of Clint’s cage suddenly dissolved. He let out a surprised _ouph!_ as he dropped into a free-fall, but the dragon had its hand out and ready, catching Clint in its palm. The dragon turned to take him away, and Bucky caught a brief glimpse of Clint mouthing _find me later_ before they disappeared down the halls. A small line of rats scurried after them.

“Did that just happen?” Bucky wondered aloud. How the hell was Clint even going to fuck that thing?

Steve shifted against the bars “It did and we’re going to thank him for it after” he said distractedly, sticking his arm out towards Bucky. “Now try to swing over to me, I think I can copy the incantation to open these things”

* * *

Natasha cursed for the however-many-th time in a row as she ducked behind another corner to avoid being spotted. The ceiling in every hall and room was thirty feet high, and every passage was a good fifteen feet at the smallest. She hadn’t stuck around to see who lived here, but they must’ve been Huge.

The sheer size of the place meant there were few small crevices to hide in, which was a real problem considering this place was teeming with minions- kobolds, to be exact. Small lizard people that were no taller than her hip and about as muscular as a child.

In small numbers they were fine, but this lair was teeming with hundreds of them, each armed with little daggers. Every time she turned a corner she’d spot more of them, which left her backtracking and ducking into shaded corners far too often.

She’d been lucky not to have her clothes stolen like the boys, but that was about all she was left with. No weapons or armor or anything to speak of. And yes, she could’ve danced out of the castle, maybe gotten comfortably seated to watch the other’s escape, but there was a small matter of _principle_.

One of these little shits had _snuck up on her_ and got her with a tranq, then robbed her blind. Odds were she wouldn’t find the specific one who did it, but there was no way she was leaving here without her things.

Problem was, her things could be anywhere, and blindly searching hadn’t yielded any results.

It was time to get more hands-on.

She watched one of the smaller groups of kobold for stragglers, and it didn’t take long. It came in the form of messenger, an even smaller thing with a little satchel stuffed with dirty scrolls. They pulled one out and handed it to one of their comrades, then scurried off on their next delivery.

Perfect. He had to know the layout of this place for sure.

She waited until he disappeared behind a corner, then followed along using her veil dancing to stay hidden. She made sure they were a safe enough distance from the others before grabbing the one and pulling him into an empty corridor.

With practiced ease she disarmed him of his dagger. The messenger had enough time to let out a quiet _eep!_ before she had the dagger turned back on him, the edge pressed against his throat.

“I’m going to make this very simple: you’re going to take me to wherever your friends are keeping my things, I’m going to take them back, and then I’m going to let you go. If you try to fight me I’ll kill you, if you alert anyone I’ll kill you, if you try to trick me I’ll kill you, if you-”

“Ye ye, I dig!” he cut in. “No sticks, no tricks, no snitch” he tapped his fist to his chest, not sounding at all concerned anymore. “I know the run, Addy. No trouble from me”

Natasha raised a brow. “Addy?”

“Addy-venturer. Get it?” he tittered. “Boss’s tricked anyway, thinks there’s only three of ya. We’ll get in trouble if he finds ya now, dig?”

Natasha hummed, pulling the knife away. It was no fun when they were on your side.

He took a step away, turning to get his first proper look at her. He snorted once, then beckoned for her to follow. “Y’aright, let’s go. I got more deliveries after ya, don’t wanna foul-up too long, ya dig?”

* * *

The messenger brought her to a room that put Wanda’s hut of junk to shame. It was wall-to-wall piles of assorted crap, with the occasional gleam of something valuable poking out, the result of decades of pilfered loot off adventurers and hapless folks who’d gotten lost in this forest.

“This what ya wanted?” he asked.

She scanned the room dubiously. “Are my things in here?”

“Ye ye, they’s in here”

He brought two fingers to his muzzle and let out a sharp whistle. “Finny! Got a seeky for ya!”

There was a loud crash coupled with someone swearing, and a few errant screws rolled out from behind a pile of junk. A moment later another kobold stuck their head out.

“Ey?”

The messenger turned to Natasha. “Finny runs the heaps, ask her for ya loot” and then he moved to leave.

Natasha contemplated brandishing the knife again to make him stay, but what would be the point? He’d taken her where she needed, and they’d already walked past several other kobolds on the way here who’d done nothing more than jeer their comrade for ‘getting stuck with the Addy’. Whoever the castle’s inhabitant was, they clearly were either lax or uncaring of their minions.

“Seeks?” Finny asked, coming out from behind the pile of junk. She had on a pair of goggles the magnified her eyes to twice their size, and her tool belt spoke of some kind of tinkerer.

“… I’m looking for my things”

“New?”

It took a second for Natasha to get the meaning of her undefined question, and then she hummed an affirmative. “Yes, your most recent”

Finny nodded excessively. “Ye ye! Scraps, bag n’ goodies. Suit n’ shield” she muttered, turning and scurrying away. If Natasha weren’t so skilled, she’d have lost the little thing in all the mess. The little thing navigated between precarious piles of junk like an otter to water.

She brought them to a small crafting table piled with odds and ends. Jars of centipedes and vials of strange liquids interspersed with crude inventions and knick-knacks. Not so much tinkerer as bootleg alchemist then.

The little kobold pulled out a box from under the table, and Natasha recognized the contents as a mix of hers and the others. She nearly reached in to grab her things before thinking better of it a casting a look to the kobold. Surely it wasn’t that easy?

“You’re just letting me take this?”

“Ponny say seeks” she answered simply, blinking her huge eyes.

Natasha didn’t push her luck and just grabbed her things, throwing on her leather armor and tucking all her little weapons back in their little hiding places. Her pack looked to have been rummaged through, but as far as she could see nothing was taken-

No, wait. One thing was missing.

She turned to Finny. “There was a jar in here”

Finny nodded agreeably. “Mm-hm”

“… Can I have it back?”

“Dunno. Big sex” she said, opening her arms wide.

“… You’re gonna have to explain that better”

Finny clucked her tongue. “ _Nng_ , show” she said, then scurried off again.

Natasha sighed, put-upon. She slung her bag across her shoulders, then paused, glancing back into the box. With a second thought, she grabbed Steve’s shield, the vine-monster ball, and the little totem necklace Clint wore. When presented the opportunity, always grab the magic items.

She hurried after the little alchemist.


End file.
